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MOUNT HOOD 
A Guide 
















«AMERICAN GUIDE SERIES 


MOUNT HOOD 

A Guide 


/ 

Compiled by Workers of the Writers’ Program 
of the Work Projects Administration 
in the State of Oregon 


ILLUSTRATED 


1940 

Sponsored by the Oregon State Board of Control 
Co-operating Sponsor, 
the Mount Hood Development Association 


DUELL, SLOAN AND PEARCE 


COPYRIGHT, I94O, BY 
OREGON STATE BOARD OF CONTROL 


v- 

.Y\%^vh 



STATE-WIDE SPONSOR OF THE OREGON WRITERS* PROJECT 



OREGON STATE BOARD OF CONTROL 

State-wide sponsor of the Oregon Writers’ Project 

FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY 
John M. Carmody, Administrator 

WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION 
F. C. Harrington, Commissioner 
Florence Kerr, Assistant Commissioner 
E. J. Griffith, State Administrator 



RECEIVED 


JUN 2 01940 


COPYRIGHT OFFICE 



PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 
BY J. J. LITTLE & IVES COMPANY. NEW YORK 


CjCIA 1 43693 v 


Foreword 


The Mount Hood Development Association takes 
pleasure in co-operating in the sponsorship of Mount 
Hood: A Guide. In this book the Oregon Writers’ 
Project has prepared a comprehensive handbook and 
guide to a recreational area that combines the charm 
and challenge of the primitive with the comfort and 
conveniences of civilization. 

B. Underdahl, President 
Mount Hood Development Association. 









Introduction 


AS THE Columbia, greatest of the rivers of the far west, 
pursues its swift and circuitous course from its source on the 
western slopes of the Rockies in the remote northern reaches 
of British Columbia to the Pacific Ocean, it encounters, on the 
last lap of its journey, four giant peaks. Rainier, Adams and 
St. Helens to its north, and Hood to the immediate south. 

Hood stands right at the notch or gap in the Cascades which 
the mighty Columbia in some prehistoric age made for itself, 
that its fast flowing current might escape to the sea. Thus, 
Hood stands at gaze, the sentinel of the Cascades, its northern 
slopes washed by the river that has been Nature’s master- 
architect in shaping the contours of the Pacific Northwest. 
The stream and the mountain are inseparably linked in the 
minds of the people of this region, who are now engaged in 
the parallel tasks of harnessing the magnificent power pos¬ 
sibilities of the river to their many tasks, while at the same 
time they are exploring Hood for its recreative potentialities. 

Out of this latter endeavor has grown Mount Hood: A 
Guide. The shortening hours of latter-day labor have caused 
men to turn, as never before, from their engrossing day-long 
tasks of making a living to out-of-door recreation. In doing 
so, the people of the Pacific Northwest in general, and those 
of Oregon in particular, have discovered that the inviting 
slopes of Mount Hood furnish, to the student no less than to 
the lover of the out-of-doors, one of the nation’s choicest and 
loveliest playgrounds and study areas, in which the spirit of 
man, as well as his body, can find re-creation. 

vii 


INTRODUCTION 


Nearly thirty years ago the eminent naturalist, Dallas Lore 
Sharp, visited the state of Oregon to study its abounding wild 
life. From this task he was enticed by the ethereal beauty and 
symmetry of Mount Hood to join a group who made its ascent. 
As he was resting at the summit, to his great astonishment, 
he saw that the peak was fairly alive with butterflies. A little 
investigation disclosed that they were coasting on an up-draft 
of air from the peak’s crater that served them as a toboggan. 
These fragile creatures had sailed to the top of Mount Hood 
as to a garden for their play; and there they were, riding their 
toboggan over and over, apparently enjoying it as much as 
the skiers of the present day who have found the lower slopes 
of Hood a perfect playground for their sport. 

But if this picture pleased the naturalist who found many 
other examples (though none so surprising and appealing) of 
the play instinct, hardly less manifest in animal than in man, 
Dallas Lore Sharp’s love of beauty was gratified most of all 
by the view of Mount Hood from Council Crest in the city 
of Portland. A brief quotation from one of Sharp’s essays, 
written, it should be remembered, not by a Westerner boast¬ 
fully inclined to florid adjectives and purple patches, but by a 
son of old Massachusetts, may perhaps best serve to conclude 
this introduction: 

“There is one glory of Rainier, and another glory of St. 
Helen’s and another glory of Mount Adams, for these majestic 
peaks differ from one another in glory, and they all differ in 
turn from Mount Hood, as Hood, in its difference only, ex¬ 
ceeds them all in glory. For pure spirituality, for earth raised 
incorruptible and clothed upon with the holiness of beauty. 
Mount Hood, as seen in the heavens from the heights of 
Portland, is incomparable. As its snow-crowned summit, 
touched with the warmth of closing day, was first unveiled 
before me, my soul did magnify the Lord, for the vision, to 
my unaccustomed eyes, was all divine. 

“There are loftier mountains—Rainier and Adams are 

viii 


INTRODUCTION 

loftier; there are peaks that fill with awe and that strike with 
terror, while Hood only fills the soul with exultation, with the 
joy of beauty, of completeness and perfection. Hood is but little 
over eleven thousand feet high, and easily climbed. Its great¬ 
ness is not physical, not height nor power; but form rather, 
and spirit, and position. Mount Hood from Portland is one 
of the perfect things of the world. 

“I look down from Council Crest upon the growing city 
and see the present moment of my country hurried, crowded, 
headlong. Then I lift my eyes to Hood, serene and soaring 
in the far-off Heaven, and lo! a vision of the future! not the 
Mountain that was God, but a summit that is song.” 

—Benjamin H. Kizer 


ix 










Preface 


PAUL BUNYAN, gigantic legendary logger, one July night 
pitched camp about six strides east of the falls of the Willa¬ 
mette. Here he uprooted with his bare hands a forest of firs 
and built himself a roaring fire. In the morning, being a 
worthy woodsman, he covered the embers with a huge heap 
of rocks and soil and with a final artistic touch sprinkled a 
bit of snow on the crust. Thus Mount Hood came to be. It’s 
just a pile of dirt. The coals must still glow a little, for there 
are fumaroles near the apex. 

Translated into current measure, Bunyan’s strides mean 
that in sixty and one half of sixty minutes one can drive a 
distance of 60 miles on a good road from Portland city center, 
60 feet above sea level, to the timberline of Mount Hood, 6000 
feet above sea level. Almost exactly a mile in elevation above 
the timberline, or three miles by the perilous trail over the 
eternal glacier, is the summit. On a clear day it is visible from 
Portland, where live a third of a million people. 

To the Mount Hood area in growing numbers come natives 
and visitors. They ski, they hike the marked trails, they gamble 
with death in attaining the very top—and they look and look. 

Mount Hood is to Oregon what Fujiyama is to Japan— 
an oriflamme. It is sometimes said that while the people of 
Seattle and Tacoma refer to Mount Rainier as “The Moun¬ 
tain,” Oregonians speak of Hood as “Our Mountain,” a 
difference in attitude whose significance is patent. 


xi 


PREFACE 


Portlanders have a sort of reverence for their mountain. 
They build their homes so they can see it. Much as they love 
trees, they even sacrifice a Douglas fir or two if their view 
of it is impeded. They point out that nowhere in the world 
is there a comparable year-round recreation area so close to a 
large center of population. But this reverence is more than a 
local tradition. An experienced traveler was seeing the Pacific 
Northwest for the first time. He stood alone on the balcony at 
Timberline Lodge, gazing to the south where 52 airline miles 
away Mount Jefferson centered the horizon and the Three 
Sisters were dimly discerned in the farther distance. He turned 
and walked back to the doorway, still silent. Presently he said 
in a quiet surcharged voice, “It’s—it’s —” 

“Magnificent?” I tactlessly interposed. 

“No, it’s —” 

“Stupendous?” I suggested. 

“No, by God, it’s wordless.” 

Yet, although this experienced traveler thinks that the 
Mount Hood area’s beauty defies words, Oregon’s forgotten 
writers have the temerity to try to describe it for you in this 
little book. 

To nature lovers it tells of trails and trees and flowers, of 
sights and scents, of sports and hostelries, of roads and roads’ 
ends. 

Among the many who have helped in the making of it are: 
E. J. Griffith, State Administrator, Oregon WPA—as a mat¬ 
ter of fact the idea originated one day a long while ago when 
Mrs. Griffith and he sat in the head-house of Timberline 
Lodge and discussed the need and timeliness of such a book; 
Mr. A. M. Swartley, Oregon State Mining Board, 329 S. W. 
Oak, Portland, Oregon; Mr. A. O. Waha, Forest Supervisor, 
301 Terminal Sales Bldg., Portland, Oregon; Mr. H. T. 
Engles, District Ranger, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture, Forest 
Service, Mt. Hood National Forest, Zigzag, Oregon; Dr. L. S. 

xii 


PREFACE 


Cressman, Museum of Natural History, Eugene, Oregon (Uni¬ 
versity of Oregon); Dr. H. C. Dake, Editor of the “Mineralo¬ 
gist,” Portland, Oregon. 

T. J. Edmonds, State Supervisor 



Contents 


FOREWORD, By Mount Hood Development Assn. . v 

PREFACE.xi 

GENERAL INFORMATION.xxiii 

Part I, Mount Hood's Background 

NATURAL SETTING. 3 

HOW MOUNT HOOD WAS MADE. 8 

FLORA AND FAUNA.11 

HISTORY.24 

MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST .... 45 

Part II, Tours and Trails 
MOTOR TOURS 

Tour 1 : Portland—Sandy—Zigzag Ranger Station—Gov¬ 
ernment Camp—Timberline Lodge Junction— 
Timberline Lodge; 64.2 m., [State 50.] . . . 53 

Tour 2 : Portland—Eagle Creek—Hood River—Mount 
Hood—Junction State 50; 112.8 m., [US 30 and 
State 35.]. 57 

Tour 3 : Junction State 23—Bear Springs—Blue Box Sum¬ 
mit—Junction Timberline Lodge Road; 40.8 m., 

[State 50] (The Wapinitia Highway) ... 62 

Tour 4 : Zigzag Ranger Station—Old Maid Flat—Clear 

Fork Guard Station 4.4 m., [Clear Creek Road.] . 64 


XV 










CONTENTS 


Tour 5 : Junction State 50—sherar Burn—Kinzel Lake; 

8 m., [Sherar Burn Road.].65 

Tour 6: Blue Box Junction—Clackamas Lake—Warm 
Springs Meadow—Lemiti Butte—Olallie Meadows 
—Olallie Lake; 35.5 m., [The Skyline Road.] . 66 

Tour 7 : Barlow Pass—White River Crossing—Bonney 
Meadow—Junction Bennet Pass Road; 18.5 m., 

[Old Barlow Road—Bonney Butte Road.] • 67 

Tour 8: Bennett Pass—Gunsight Butte—Gumjuwac Sad¬ 
dle—Junction Dufur Road—Junction State 36; 

19 m., [Lookout Mountain Road—Dufur Road.] 69 

HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 


Tour 1 : Welches—Salmon River Guard Station—Linney 
Creek Forest Camp; 12 m., [The Salmon River 
Trail.].70 

Tour 2 : Rhododendron—Tollgate—Laurel Hill—Govern¬ 
ment Camp; 11.5 m., [Pioneer Bridle Path.] . 7 1 

Tour S: Rhododendron—Lookout Cabin—Old Barlow 

Road—Zigzag Ranger Station; 10.5 m., [West 
Zigzag Mountain Trail.]. 7 ^ 

TOUR 4 : Junction State 50—Devils Canyon—East Zigzag 
Mountain—Paradise Park; 10 m., [East Zigzag 
Road and Trail.]. 73 

TOUR 5 ; Camp Creek Forest Camp—Still Creek Guard 
Station—Still Creek Forest Camp; 8.1 m., [Still 
Creek Trail.]. 74 

Tour 6: Twin Bridges—Paradise Park; 6 m., [Paradise 

Park Trail.]. 75 

TOUR 7 : Barlow Forest Camp—Hidden Lake—Sand Can¬ 
yon; 4.3 m., [Hidden Lake Way.] .... 7® 

Tour 8: Junction State 50—Yocum Falls—Mirror Lake; 

2.1 m., [Yocum Falls—Mirror Lake Trail.] . . 77 


Tour 9 : Government Camp—Camp Blossom; 4.5 m., 

[Camp Blossom Trail.]. 

xvi 


78 





CONTENTS 


Tour 10 : Summit Ranger Station—Trillium Lake—Jackpot 
Meadows; 6.3 m., [The Oregon Skyline (Pacific 
Crest) Trail.].78 

Tour 11 : Timberline Lodge—Paradise Park—Eden Park— 

Cloud Cap Inn—Timberline Lodge; 36.5 m., 
[Timberline or “Round The Mountain” Trail.] 79 

TOUR 12 : Barlow Pass—Butte Springs—Blue Box Summit; 

11 m., [Barlow Ridge Trail.].83 

Tour 13 : Hood River Meadows—Elk Meadows—Junction 
Cooper Spur Road; 10 m. [Hood River Meadows 
—Cold Springs Creek Trail.].84 

Tour 14 : Robin Hood Forest Camp—Gumjuwac Saddle— 

Badger Lake; 5.5 m., [Badger Lake Trail.] . . 85 

TOUR 15 : Bald Mountain—Lolo Pass—Lost Lake—Wahtum 
Lake—Eagle Creek Forest Camp; 19.5 m., [The 
Oregon Skyline (Lost Lake) Trail—Eagle Creek 
Trail.].85 

ASCENT OF THE PEAK.87 

ROUTE 1 : Timberline Lodge—Lone Fir Lookout—Palmer 
Glacier—Crater Rock—“The Chute”—Summit, 

3.7 m., [South Side Climb.].g7 

ROUTE 2 : Cloud Cap Inn or Tilly Jane Forest Camp— 

Ghost Ridge—Eliot Glacier—Cooper Spur—“The 
Chimney”—Summit, 3.8 m., [Cooper Spur Climb.] 99 

ROUTE 3 : Tilly Jane Forest Camp—Eliot Glacier—Jeffer¬ 
son Rocks—Cathedral Spire—Summit, 5 m., [Sun¬ 
shine Trail or North Face Climb.] . . . . lOO 

ROUTE 4 : Timberline Lodge—Palmer Glacier—White River 
Glacier—Steel Cliff—Summit, 4.8 m., [Wy’east 
Trail Climb or Steel Cliff Route.] . . . IOO 

ROUTE 5 : Junction with Timberline Trail—Newton Clark 
Glacier—East Rim of Crater—Summit, 4.5 m., 
[Newton Clark Glacier—East Face Climb.] • • 101 

Route 6: Upper Sandy River Canyon—Yocum Ridge— 

Sandy Glacier—Reid Glacier—Illumination Rock 
—Summit, 4.8 m. [West Face Climb or “Ava¬ 
lanche Route.”]. 102 

xvii 







CONTENTS 


ROUTE 7 : Eden Park—Junction with Timberline Trail— 

Ladd Glacier—Cathedral Ridge—Summit, 6 m., 
[Cathedral Ridge Climb.].103 

ROUTE 8: Wy’east Basin—Ladd Glacier—Barrett Spur— 

Coe Rock—Cathedral Ridge—Summit, 5.5 m., 

[Pulpit Rock Climb.].103 

ROUTE 9 : Timberline Lodge—Lone Fir Lookout—Palmer 
Glacier—Crater Rock—East Crater Wall—Steel 
Cliff—Summit, 4.6 m., [Inner Steel Cliff or East 
Face of Crater Wall Climb.].104 

ROUTE 10: Paradise Park—Illumination Rock—Reid Glacier 
—Yocum Ridge—The Crest—Summit, 7 m., 

[Sandy Glacier—Cirque or Headwall Climb.] . 104 

ROUTE 11 : Tilly Jane Forest Camp—Cooper Spur—Eliot 
Glacier Headwall—Summit, 3.5 m., [Eliot Glacier 
or Headwall Climb.].105 

WINTER SPORTS AND SKI TRAILS.108 

Ski Bowl—Ski Racing Trail—Slalom Course . . 112 

Cascade Ski Jump—Central Skiing Area . . . 113 

Summit Meadows Ski Trail.113 

Glade Ski Trail—Blossom Ski Trail—Alpine Ski 
Trail—Nanitch Ski Area—Cascade Ski Trail— 
Mazama Hill and Ski Trail—West Leg Ski Trail. 114 

Lone Fir Ski Trail—National Downhill Cham¬ 
pionship Trail—Toboggan Course . . . . 115 

Cooper Spur Ski Trails—Ski Bowl—Ski Jumping 
Hill—Sand Canyon Ridge—Bear Mountain— 
Practice Slope.116 

Part III , Appendices 

CHRONOLOGY.121 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 125 

INDEX. 127 

xviii 









List of Illustrations 


Photograph by Albert A. Altofer 
South Slope of Mt. Hood in Summer 

Photograph by Courtesy of Angelus Studio 
Along the Old Stage Road, near Mt. Hood 

Photograph by Courtesy of Atkeson, Photo-Art Studio 
North Windows . . . Snow-mantled Trees . . . Sunrise 

Photograph by George Henderson 
Mt. Hood, viewed from Cloud Cap Inn 

Photograph by Curtis Ijames 
Climbing the Ice Falls, Eliot Glacier 

Photograph by Irving B. Lincoln 
Castle Crags and Illumination Rock, with Cascade in Background 
Climbing the Seracs, Upper Ice Falls of Eliot Glacier 
Illumination Ridge and Crater Rock 
View of Crater Rock Showing Steam Rising from Fumaroles 
View of Mt. Hood from Lookout Mountain Road 
View of Mt. Hood from Zigzag Mountain 
View of Summit Ridge, showing Summit Look-out 

Photograph by Francis McIntosh 
Lookout Cabin on Summit of Mt. Hood 

Photograph by Alfred A. Monner 
Mazama Lodge 


xix 


LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Photograph by Donald G. Onthank 

Eliot Glacier . . . Terminus of Newton Clark Glacier . . . View of 
Summit of Mt. Hood from Steel Cliff 

Photograph by Courtesy of The Oregonian 
Climbing Mt. Hood by Way of Steel Cliff . . . Crevasses . . . Ski Tourna¬ 
ment . . . Skiers . . . The Ski Jumper Leaving the Take-off 

Photograph by Courtesy of Timberline Lodge Association 
Riding Party 

Photograph by Courtesy of U. S. Forest Service 
A Burned-over Area, Mt. Hood National Forest ... A Stand of Fir, 
Engelmann Spruce and White Pine . . . Applying Grease Paint to Prevent 
Sunburning Beaver . . . Building a Fire Line . . . Camping . . . Coyote 
. . . Mule Deer . . . Punch Bowl Falls, Eagle Creek Trail . . . Sheep 
Grazing in Mt. Hood National Forest . . . Striped Chipmunk . . . The 
Expert . . . Tobogganing . . . View of Mt. Hood from Lost Lake . . . 
View of Mt. Hood and Olallie Butte . . . Zigzag Glacier Prong of Sandy 

River 


Timberline Lodge . . . Timberline Lodge, Main Lounge . . . Timberline 
Lodge, Stairway . . . Timberline Lodge, Typical Bedroom 



List of Maps 


MOUNT HOOD REGION. 

MOUNT HOOD RECREATION AREA 

THE SOUTH SLOPE OF MOUNT HOOD . 


• . 52 

. 106-107 
End Piece 



General Information 


Seasons: May to October; summer recreational season. No¬ 
vember to April; winter recreational season. 

Climate: Summer—Days warm; nights cool. Temperature 
range, 40° to 85°. Winter—Days and nights cool to cold. 
Temperature range, io° to 55°. 

Bus Service: Mount Hood Stages between Portland and 
Mount Hood and central Oregon points. Special all-expense 
tours in season. 

Gray Line Sightseeing Tour: Mount Hood Loop and Co¬ 
lumbia River Highway trip, $10, offers close-up view of Mount 
Hood for about three-quarters of its circumference. 

Highways: Bituminous paved highways into the area: from 
Portland State 50, from Hood River and Columbia River 
Highway (US 30) State 35 and State 50, from eastern and 
central Oregon by way of the Dalles-California Highway and 
State 50 from Maupin Jet. 

Traffic Regulations: No fixed speed limit, but no person 
shall drive at speeds inconsistent with prudent control of car; 
“indicated speeds,” 45 m.p.h. on open highways, 20 m.p.h. at 
intersections where vision obscured, and 15 m.p.h. passing 
school grounds. 

Parking Areas: Parking not permitted on highways. Parking 
areas within Mount Hood Recreational Area plentiful. Dur- 

xxiii 


GENERAL INFORMATION 


ing winter, parking restricted to areas under combined con¬ 
trol of state police and forest service. 

Service Stations: At frequent intervals. 

Accommodations: Arrah Wanna Hotel (open all year), 1,300 
alt., Wemme; hotel or single room cabins, housekeeping cot¬ 
tages, 2 to 4 persons. Bailey’s Mountain Log Cabins ( open all 
year), 1,500 alt., Zig Zig; 6 cabins. Battle Axe Inn ( open all 
year), 3,888 alt., Government Camp; steam-heated rooms, 
American plan. Cloud Cap Inn ( open July 1 to September 75), 
5,985 alt., Parkdale; 12 rooms, American plan. Mount Hood 
Tavern ( open all year), 3,517 alt., Parkdale; 2 cottages, Euro¬ 
pean plan. Rhododendron Inn (open all year), 1,620 alt., 
Rhododendron; American and European plan. Timberline 
Lodge (open all year), 6,000 alt.. Timberline Lodge P.O., 
6 m. N. of Mount Hood Loop Highway near Government 
Camp; all rooms with bath, European plan. Numerous im¬ 
proved and equipped forest camps, some with trailer space. 

Riding Horses: During summer season riding horses avail¬ 
able at Timberline Stables near Timberline Lodge, at Cloud 
Cap Inn, and at Rhododendron. Rates $3 per day without 
guide. Pack trains operated out of Cascade Locks on US 30, 
to Mount Hood and other points of interest on Skyline or 
Pacific Crest Trail. 

Forest Ranger Stations: Zigzag Ranger Station at west en¬ 
trance to Mount Hood National Forest. Parkdale Ranger Sta¬ 
tion at north entrance on State 35, 17 miles south of Hood 
River. Bear Springs Guard Station, on Wapinitia Highway, 
25 miles west of Maupin. Beside attending to regular con¬ 
servation activities and duties as fire lookouts and fire fighters, 
forest rangers organize rescue parties for those lost or injured 
in the woods. They enforce forest regulations during summer 
months and skiing regulations during winter sports season, 


xxiv 


GENERAL INFORMATION 


render first aid and furnish information about trails, fishing, 
hunting, points of interest, and forest regulations and laws. 

Information Service: Zigzag Ranger Station, supplies infor¬ 
mation concerning points of interest, hunting and fishing, 
and regulations in area. Service station attendants keep 
themselves well-informed and are fairly reliable sources of 
information. 

Private Guide Service: Private guides available at Cascade 
Locks, Hood River and at Rhododendron. Application for 
guide service should be made well in advance. Fees, $3 to $5 
a day. 

Special Regulations: Picking wild flowers in Mount Hood 
Forest is prohibited. Campfires in national forest without writ¬ 
ten permit from ranger in charge of area prohibited except 
at public forest camps. During periods of high fire hazard, 
forest is usually closed to fires of any kind, including tobacco 
smoking. 

Hunting: Licenses required of all persons over 14 years of 
age. Fees: resident license, $3; juvenile license for those be¬ 
tween ages of 14 and 18 years, $1; nonresident license, $15. 
No closed season on bear or such predatory animals as cougar, 
bobcat, wildcat, wolf, coyote and lynx. No open season on elk, 
antelope, or such small fur-bearing animals as fisher, marten, 
civet cat, ringtail cat, and beaver. Hunting regulations re¬ 
vised every year in July by Oregon State Game Commission. 
Federal regulations protect certain migratory birds. 

Fishing: Licenses required of all persons over 14 years of 
age. Fees: resident license, $3; nonresident license, $3; juvenile 
license for persons between ages of 14 and 18 years, $1; special 
two-day vacation license for resident and nonresident alike, 
$1. Game fish listed as land-locked salmon, steelhead trout, 
lake trout, any other variety of trout, and salmon under 


XXV 



GENERAL INFORMATION 


twenty inches in length. Fishing season varies for certain 
varieties of fish and for certain streams of area. 

Red Cross Service: Red Cross first aid equipment at Govern¬ 
ment Camp, Summit Guard Station, Ski Bowl, Timberline 
Lodge, Lone Fir Lookout, and Parkdale. 

Ski Patrol: The Mount Hood Ski Patrol, division of National 
Ski Patrol, organized to administer first aid in case of accident 
except where doctor is present, carry first aid kits and maintain 
first aid caches at advantageous places. Patrolmen identified by 
nickel badge similar to Forest Service shield and labeled “Mt. 
Hood Ski Patrol,” and by orange and black arm brassard. All 
patrolmen carry standard American Red Cross first aid cards. 

Warnings: To Hikers: Stay on marked trails; obtain camp¬ 
fire permits if fires are planned. Extinguish all fires after use. 
Do not drink water from unmarked springs and streams. 
To Climbers: Do not attempt to climb Mount Hood without 
guide; do not attempt to climb mountain in winter; wear 
proper clothing; be prepared for sudden extremes in weather; 
stay with your party. To Skiers: Do not attempt ski courses 
beyond your ability; obey all rules of Ski Patrol; use skis of 
suitable length; wear proper clothing; call “track” before 
starting on ski run, and give right of way to those calling for 
it. Amateurs and beginners should be particularly careful in 
use of ski poles. Do not attempt prepared “jumps” until 
qualified to do so. To Campers: Obtain camping and camp¬ 
fire permits from Forest Service; carry tools suitable for ex¬ 
tinguishing campfires; observe Federal Fire Regulations in 
force from June 1 to October 31; leave a clean camp. Be sure 
water supply is pure; signs indicate purity of streams and 
springs. To Tobogganists: All Mount Hood toboggan runs 
are privately owned. Obey all rules and regulations. Not more 
than three persons should ride at any one time. No part of 


xxvi 


GENERAL INFORMATION 


body should overhang the toboggan while in motion. Call 
“track” before starting a run. To Snowshoers: Wear rubber 
shoes with snowshoes. Adjust harness of snowshoe to foot so 
that ordinary walking step can be taken. Repair immediately 
any broken portions of web. Exercise extreme care in use of 
ski poles if carried. To Autoists: Do not park on highway. Use 
chains in winter. Observe all traffic rules and regulations. 

Clothing: In summer, prepare for warm days and cool nights. 
Wear stout shoes for hiking. If mountain climbing is antici¬ 
pated, wear warm clothing that does not bind, stout shoes 
or boots with hobnails or climbing cleats and sun glasses. 
Face should be greased to prevent sun and wind burn. 

In winter, prepare for cold weather. Regulation ski suits and 
boots are recommended if that sport is participated in. Do not 
wear clothing too heavy or tight fitting. 

Summary of Events: Oregon Winter Sports Association spon¬ 
sors annual winter carnival and skiing tournament. Local ski 
clubs hold annual ski meets open to public on payment of 
small fee. Inquire locally about dates and locations. 


xxvi 1 













PART I 


Mount Hood’s Background 









Natural Setting 


TO THE Indian, the explorer, and the pioneer, the white 
peak of Mount Hood was the most distinctive landmark of 
the Oregon Country. Held in awe by the superstitious red- 
man, a gleaming discovery to the earliest navigators and 
pathfinders, and a beacon of assurance to the westward¬ 
pushing homeseekers, it symbolized the strength and beauty 
of an untamed land. Visible from as far east as the Blue 
Mountains and from as far west as the mouth of the Cowlitz 
River, it was entered in the records of every prominent early- 
day traveler by land or by water. It was first sighted in 1792 
by Lieutenant William Broughton and named for Rear- 
Admiral Hood of the British navy. 

Mount Hood, in north central Oregon, is most often ob¬ 
served from the west, where it is visible to more than one-third 
of the state’s population. With frosty and imposing dignity it 
looms above the numerous mountains and foothills that fall 
away to the wide, populous valley of the Willamette and its 
northern tributaries. Northwestward from the peak crowd the 
evergreen-timbered slopes and crags of a rugged and irregular 
terrain. To the immediate north, wedged like an arrowhead at 
the heart of the white mountain, Hood River Valley lies tufted 
with orchards. Coursing from east to west forming the state’s 
northern boundary, the Columbia River cuts a gigantic gash 
through the massive Cascade barrier. To the east of the 
mountain the open piney slopes descend to the tawny, semi- 
arid plains of central Oregon. Southward the forested folds of 
the Cascade Range extends for nearly 260 miles to the Oregon- 
California state line. Along this serrated backbone other white 
peaks stand above the complex topographic pattern of basaltic 

S 


MOUNT HOOD 


walls, mountain meadows, glacial lakes, forest-shadowed 
streams, and waterfalls. 

Mount Hood, 11,245 ^ eet height, is the state’s largest 
mountain, with a basal area of about 80 square miles at the 
4,000 foot level. It is in latitude 45 0 , 22', 24.3", and longitude 
121 0 , 42', 49.6", and is one of the very few snowcapped peaks 
in the world that stands alone and visible from every point 
of the compass. 

Portions of the upper reaches of Mount Hood are of broken 
talus, with steep barren lava outcroppings separating the 
eleven glaciers. Much loose eroded material, particularly on 
the west and south sides, coasts down the slopes with the 
avalanches and melting snows. The soil of the higher altitudes 
is of the Olympic silt type, in places liberally mingled with 
sand. Below timberline and common to the adjacent moun¬ 
tains, Cascade silt loam prevails. Annually enriched by decay¬ 
ing vegetation, it spreads into the valleys, fertile and produc¬ 
tive. Lava outcroppings occasionally exist as low as the 3,000- 
foot level. The basaltic dike underlying the Cascadian struc¬ 
ture is so deeply imbedded that only the area’s deepest 
stream, the Sandy, has exposed it. 

Six rivers and two score creeks carry the melted ice of the 
glaciers and snowfields to lower valleys. The Sandy River, 
draining much of the west side, is the longest and deepest 
of these streams. The narrow canyons of Zigzag and Little 
Zigzag Rivers course irregularly down the precipitous slopes 
in a southwesterly direction. Flowing southward are Salmon 
River and White River, the latter occasionally a tempestuous 
flood, whitened with lava pumice. East and north of Bennett 
Pass many tributary creeks feed into the East Fork of Hood 
River, with the Middle Fork and the North Fork of this 
stream carrying off the glacial waters of the north slope. 

Cascade streams are swift but large waterfalls in the Mount 
Hood area are few. Widely scattered on the upper slopes of 
the mountain and usually secluded in forested and fern-clad 

4 



VIEW OF MT. HOOD FROM LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN ROAD 







Lincoln 


ILLUMINATION RIDGE AND CRATER ROCK 




NATURAL SETTING 


glens, a number of lakes, notably Bull Run, Lost Lake, and 
Badger Lake, trap the icy waters from the melting glaciers. 

In an area whose contour is marked by many peaks and 
buttes nearly a score stand out prominently. West and East 
Zigzag Mountains, southwest of Mount Hood, are scantily 
wooded knobs almost 5,000 feet in altitude. Slide Mountain, 
on the upper Sandy River, its barren talus slopes broken and 
insecure, is almost as high. Bald and Sugarloaf Mountains, and 
Burnt Peak, which stand to the northwest, and Devils Peak, 
to the southwest, all approximate 5,000 feet elevation. Rang- 
ing eastward along the south skyline are Veda Butte, Eureka 
and Multorpor Mountains, all on the west slope of the Cas¬ 
cades, and Frog Lake, Bonney, and Barlow Buttes east of the 
summit. To the north, above Badger and Gunsight Buttes, 
Lookout Mountain lifts its crown. Between it and the pin¬ 
nacle of Hood, nine miles to the west, stands Elk Mountain, 
5,661 feet in the air; from its northern base stretches the five- 
mile long, 5,000-feet high Bluegrass Ridge. Lamberson Butte 
rises against the white eastern shoulder of Hood, but well 
below the glacial moraine. North of the mountain and beyond 
Red Hill the narrow Blue Ridge ranges for four miles, a 
rugged wall between the Middle and West Fork valleys of 
Hood River. To the northwest, the Sawtooth Mountains form 
a backdrop for Lost Lake, with Lost Lake Butte on the east. 
Sentinel Butte and Hiyu Mountain complete a circuit of the 
most prominent peaks adjacent to Mount Hood itself. 

CLIMATE 

The climate of the Cascade Range itself is variable, in ac¬ 
cord with altitude and season. At the elevation of the Mount 
Hood Recreational Area (about 5,000 alt.), summer tempera¬ 
tures range from 40° in the early morning hours, to 85° in 
midafternoon. The winter temperature range is from io° to 

55°- 


5 


MOUNT HOOD 


The Cascade Mountains divide Oregon into two distinct 
climatic regions: the continental to the east and the marine 
to the west. East of the mountains rainfall is limited, usually 
with long moistureless periods during the summer months. 
In the verdant area to the west, precipitation is liberal in all 
seasons except summer, when for about three months little 
or no rain falls. Heavy rains at any time of year are rare, 
and numerous sunny days enhance all seasons. Thunder¬ 
storms, occasionally severe, occur infrequently. There is 
usually little or no rainfall with these disturbances. 

Early fall and late spring rains are common. Chilled by low 
temperature, these sometimes become sleety and travel must 
be undertaken with caution. Snowfall is frequent, often storm- 
driven and heavy during the late fall, throughout the winter, 
and in the early spring. At extreme altitudes, particularly on 
the slopes of Mount Hood, smothering storms, sweeping down 
with little or no warning, are to be expected at any time from 
October to May. It is characteristic of such storms that they 
usually cease as suddenly as they strike, followed by clearing 
weather and sunny days. 

For years no official records were kept of the snowfall on 
Mount Hood, although Mazama climbing parties to the sum¬ 
mit have occasionally gauged the snow depths and noted 
temperatures at varying levels. The Government Snow Course 
or Snow Gauging Station was established at Phlox Point 
(5,800 alt.), just below Timberline Lodge, in 1937. The snow¬ 
fall here is greater than at any similar station in Oregon, and 
is perhaps as great as at any official station in the United 
States. Eighteen feet of snow on the level is common at this 
point. Above at Timberline Lodge during the winter months 
snowdrifts as deep as seventy feet frequently pile up against 
the east wing. 

Atmospheric conditions in the mountains change frequently. 
Much of the scenic grandeur and charm of high places is 
supplied by shifting cloud formations that alter aspects and 

6 


NATURAL SETTING 


afford breath-taking backdrops for nature’s wild beauty. Cloud 
masses, white and volatile or cumulus and dark, often obscure 
the highest peaks and the lowest valleys. Mount Hood fre¬ 
quently disappears and reappears a half-dozen times in a 
single hour. At times its upper slopes stand above the level 
cloudfloor that obscures all lesser heights. Fog, too, is common 
in the fall and summer months and occurs at other times of 
the year under provoking atmospheric conditions. 

In this ancient country there is little change with the years. 
The attrition of the elements is so gradual that few but the 
scientist observe the altered aspect; only the occasional ava¬ 
lanche, the displaced rock, the flood-choked watercourse dis¬ 
play change. In summer when the snowfields melt back to the 
parent ice a small shrinkage of the glaciers is noted. A blaze 
in the timber not immediately controlled may denude some 
mountain slope, temporarily smudging with black the green 
mantle. But these scars soon heal. Protected by man in its 
wildness the Mount Hood area will remain through the cen¬ 
turies much as it is today; as it was before the first road 
climbed into its high, murmuring silences. 


1 


How Mount Hood Was Made 


FOR many millions of years two distinct bodies of land, or 
two islands, rose above the primal sea that covered what is 
now the State of Oregon. At the close of the Cretaceous period 
these two land areas were separated by a sea dike which had 
been slowly rising from the ocean bed from the present Lower 
California to the Aleutian Islands. Rising slowly this dike, 
known in Oregon today as the Cascade Range, shut out the 
sea from the interior and formed three drainage areas. Those 
to the north were what later became the Columbia Basin and 
the central basin of southeastern Oregon, whose outlet was 
cut off and whose waters disappeared through evaporation. 

Late in the Oligocene or early in the Miocene epoch of the 
Tertiary period the vast Columbia lava flows began to well up 
from the central earth. In this age of volcanic activity the 
Cascades belched up great clouds of ashes that were carried 
eastward by the prevailing winds, and spewed out rivers of 
molten stone that flowed over the face of the land, forming 
the ocean-like sheets of basalt that cover the region. Twenty- 
five superimposed flows have been counted along the De¬ 
schutes River and the Columbia Gorge. At the close of the Mio¬ 
cene epoch the Cascades presented a range of comparatively 
low hills covered with dense rain forests, and the region to 
the east was a land of lakes green with woodlands of mag¬ 
nolia, cinnamon, and fig trees. Sycamore, dogwood and oak 
flourished, and Sequoias towered to great heights. 

During the Pliocene epoch volcanic activity reappeared in 
the Cascade Range and near the end of the period great ac- 

8 


HOW MOUNT HOOD WAS MADE 


tivity in mountain building lifted the range to its great height 
and erected its jagged superstructure of peaks. 

Mount Hood rose in successive outpourings of lava over a 
period of many eons. Clinkers, cinders, agglomerates and floods 
of molten lava were spewed forth from the earth vent, and 
during a long process of building and erosion the mountain 
grew to a sharp-peaked cone. Its height was probably about 
12,000 feet. Horizontal ridges and base spurs developed from 
the rock slides and flows. 

With the close of the second era of vulcanism and the 
cooling of the peak, heavy snowfalls resumed and glaciers 
developed on the higher slopes. Gravity carried the ice flows 
down into the valleys, where they were halted by meeting the 
warm air of the lower altitudes. The debris borne by the de¬ 
scending ice masses was deposited as terminal moraines. Trees 
were swept down and buried; some of them, mingled with the 
sheared-off shoulders of the mountain, are still evident in 
many places. The slow melting of the glaciers left fan-shaped 
outwashes as typified by the Zigzag River area. Waters from 
the upper snow and ice fields began to cut trough-like canyons 
down the mountain, forming the rivers and creeks of the re¬ 
gion, and yearly rains and snowfalls have since kept these 
streams supplied. 

In the process of formation, successive eruptions of the 
mountain scattered fragments over a wide area, especially to 
the south. Through long years of erosion only the tougher 
materials of Crater Rock and the north rim of the original 
crater, which is now the peak of the mountain, remain. The 
south wall of the caldera has worn away until little is left to 
indicate its ancient position. From its former height the 
processes of glaciation and weathering have reduced the peak 
to 11,245 f eet mugged grace and white beauty. 

Mount Hood, as indicated by various fumaroles and gas 
vents, is not completely extinct. Rather it appears as a sleep¬ 
ing menace that might be awakened to fury by some future 

9 


MOUNT HOOD 


seismic disturbance. Within the crater of the mountain, prin¬ 
cipally at a point known as the Devil’s Kitchen just above 
Crater Rock, and at inaccessible points on Steels Cliff, are 
numerous vents from which issue sulphurous gases mingled 
with water vapor. 

Within the last hundred years various demonstrations of 
volcanic activity on the mountain have been recorded. “It 
became hot about midday,” recorded the Weekly Oregonian 
of August 20, 1859, “and in the evening occasional flashes 
of fire were seen. On Thursday night fire was plainly visible. 
... A large mass on the northeast side [of Mount Hood] 
had disappeared, and an immense quantity of snow on the 
south side was gone.” A month later W. F. Courtney, while 
driving cattle over the Barlow Road, saw “intermittent 
columns of fire erupting from the crater for two hours.” John 
Dever reported on June 21, 1865, that he had seen “the top 
[of Mount Hood] enveloped in smoke and flame, accompanied 
by discharges of what appeared to be fragments cast up from 
a considerable depth with a rumbling noise not unlike 
thunder.” 

Since then no spectacular eruption has been recorded, but 
as late as 1896 the vents above Crater Rock “smoked and 
steamed constantly,” and “by applying the ear to the ground, 
boiling and sputtering water could be heard distinctly.” In 
1935 thermometers inserted in the vents registered 193 de¬ 
grees F., which is the boiling point at the altitude (10,400 
feet). Even today a decided sulphurous odor assails the nos¬ 
trils of the climber who approaches the fumaroles of Crater 
Rock and the Devil’s Kitchen. 


10 


Flora and Fauna 


THE Mount Hood area is divided into* four biological life 
zones, with the foothills lying mostly in the Transition zone 
and the peak mounting through the Canadian, the Hud- 
sonian, and the Alpine zones. Almost the entire range of plant 
life common to the north Pacific coast is represented in the 
region. More than 350 species of trees, shrubs, and other 
plants have been listed as native. 

The verdure is the most varied and prolific on the slopes 
west of the summit of the Cascade Range. The principal tree 
of this area is the Douglas fir, while east of the divide the 
yellow or Ponderosa pine is dominant. The heaviest timber 
growth is in the Canadian and Hudsonian zones, between 
2,000 and 4,000 foot altitude, and is principally of evergreen 
species. Deciduous trees are seldom found above the 3,500 foot 
level. All growth undergoes marked transformation as it 
climbs to higher altitudes, where the shorter growing season, 
colder air, and heavier snows dwarf the size, and the high 
winds contort the shape. Only vegetation of supreme hardi¬ 
hood endures at 6,000 feet. 

Douglas fir, named in 1825 by the English botanist, David 
Douglas, is common to the whole region and in places stands 
in almost solid expanse. Not a true fir, its flat, dark-green 
needles make it readily recognizable. Scattered through the 
area are the western hemlock, its crowntip always drooping, 
the white fir, its pale blue-green needles upward and outward 
curving, and the red cedar pyramidal and dense. Incense 
cedar with its red deeply furrowed bark is usually found in the 
lower valleys. Pacific yew grows occasionally near streams and 

11 


MOUNT HOOD 


in moist places to timberline. The great silver fir, with grace¬ 
ful down-curving branches, ranges from the lower foothills 
to the higher ridges. Lodgepole pine, high-branched and thin- 
leafed, grows liberally throughout the Cascades. Formerly the 
Wasco Indians living east of Hood River floated lodgepole 
pines down the Columbia for sale to lower-river tribes who 
had innumerable uses for the straight, slender trunks. Fewer 
in number but scattered over the whole area are the western 
larch or tamarack, which drops its scant yellow leaves in 
autumn, and the noble fir, straight-trunked and tall. 

On the eastern slopes of the mountains the dominant tree is 
the Ponderosa pine, its columnar yellow boles often eight 
feet in diameter encased in a bark of russet plates from three 
to four inches thick. Although the western juniper is scattered 
through the Cascades its favored habitat is these sunny eastern 
slopes where it seeks exposed places. It seldom exceeds sixty 
feet in height, its needles gray-green and closely pressed. Here 
too is the tall slender shaft of the western white pine, its pale 
bark in sharp contrast to that of the richer Ponderosa. 

Unmistakable among the highest climbing trees is the white- 
barked pine, its snowy trunk glistening in the sun as if ice- 
coated. This low-branching tree, twisted from constant battle 
with wind and storm, rarely exceeds twenty feet in height, 
often being completely covered by the deep winter snows. 
A prominent species in the higher altitudes is the Alaska 
cedar or yellow cypress. The Alpine fir lifts tall and narrow 
amid the other evergreens near timberline, and mountain hem¬ 
lock seeks the lofty places. In the high wind-swept spaces that 
mark the last stand of forest growth the blue-green sentinels 
of Englemann spruce prevail against the elements, sometimes 
reaching a considerable height. Their graceful spires are a 
distinguishing feature of Paradise and Eden Parks and the 
northside coves. 

Although the predominance of tree coverage in the Mount 
Hood forest is evergreen, numerous deciduous trees intersperse 

12 


FLORA AND FAUNA 


the conifers. In spring the blossom-mantled dogwood spreads 
a starry constellation against the darker green of hemlock and 
fir. Chinquapin and alder flourish throughout the region, 
while here and there on eastside slopes quaking aspen, a 
member of the poplar family, trembles its silvery leaves. More 
common is the large black cottonwood or balm. In late sum¬ 
mer, most prolific east of the divide, the creamy flowers of the 
mountain ash become brilliant clusters of scarlet berries. 
Everywhere are the numerous varieties of willow. 

In most sections of the Cascades undergrowth is almost 
tropical in its luxuriance. Many of the shrubs are annually 
bright with gorgeous bloom. Red currant, one of the first to 
bloom, puts forth its flowers before the leaves are fully ex¬ 
panded. Spiraea and syringa, or mock orange, toss white sprays 
in the sharp sunlight of the openings. On the western slopes 
in late June the waxen terminal buds of the rhododendron 
burst open to display large clusters of white and rose and 
cerise blossoms, almost obliterating the dense dark-green 
foliage. Other evergreen shrubs are the madrona, a species of 
arbutus, and wooly manzanita, both with reddish-brown scaly 
bark. 

The fruit of many flowering shrubs was utilized by the 
Indians in their diet and by the pioneers who succeeded them. 
Among the most important of these edible berries are the blue 
huckleberry that grows profusely in the meadows and along 
the slopes from Mount Hood to Mount Jefferson, the red 
huckleberry that flourishes in small clumps up to 4,000 feet 
altitude, and the alpine huckleberry. Another plant especially 
useful to the Indian was the serviceberry. This plant is the 
shadbush of New England, the June-berry of the Midwest, 
the Saskatoon of western Canada. The fruit of this shrub was 
one of the staples in the manufacture of pemmican, and was 
also eaten fresh and dried. Lewis and Clark mention a native 
bread of which the serviceberry was one of the chief in¬ 
gredients. A famous dish of our pioneer grandmothers was 

13 


MOUNT HOOD 


“serviceberry pie.” Perhaps the most abundant shrub is the 
salal, in some places almost the sole forest cover. Its black 
aromatic fruit is edible but seedy. The Oregon grape, its 
blossom designated as the Oregon state flower, blooms in early 
spring and produces a small grape-like berry in late July. 
The leaves of this shrub closely resemble holly. The reddish- 
brown thimbles of the salmon berry also ripen in July. The 
trailing dewberry and the common blackberry form matted 
thickets in sunny open spaces and in deep shade. The blue 
elderberry holds its dusky fruit in saucer-like clusters, while 
the scarlet bunchberry is conspicuous in August on its upright 
stalk. These plants differ from the poisonous baneberry, whose 
clustered oval berries, sometimes white, sometimes red, are 
marked each with a purple spot on the flower end. The small 
inedible icy-white globes of the snowberry remain thickly on 
leafless branches well into the winter. 

More than fifteen varieties of ferns are native to the north¬ 
ern Cascades. Of these the Christmas or sword fern is the most 
abundant. Termed an evergreen because of its perennial 
luster, it grows in moist shady nooks below 5,000 feet altitude. 
Similar in appearance but taller and more slender is the spike¬ 
like deer fern. Both species furnish forage for the deer and 
elk during the winter months. Familiar on moist banks and 
rocky slopes is the maidenhair fern, its birdfoot-like black 
stems seldom growing more than a foot high. Often found as 
far up as timberline are the tufted cliff brake, the western lady 
fern, and the lace fern, while hanging gracefully over broken 
rocks at high altitudes, is the bladder fern, delicate and taper¬ 
ing and seldom exceeding a foot in length. Licorice fern, 
creeping over logs and growing trees in damp recesses, has a 
distinct licorice taste. Growing shoulder high in sunny open 
places at comparatively low altitudes is the common brake 
or western bracken. Under a hot sun it exudes a faintly sweet 
odor. 

Many varieties of mosses cling to the rocks and trees of the 

14 


FLORA AND FAUNA 


area, among them the stiff club moss and the running pine 
moss. The latter is found in open woods creeping over rotting 
logs and stumps and is often used for Christmas decorations. 

Numerous rushes, sedges, and grasses have habitat in the 
upland meadows. Four varieties of rushes lift stiff, scantily- 
branching aerials over sandy or rocky declivities. These hol¬ 
low green stems explode when thrown into the fire—a charac¬ 
teristic utilized by Indian medicine men in treatment of the 
ailing. Because of the rough surface, pioneers often used the 
rushes for scouring utensils, guns, and floors. Among the 
sedges those found at highest altitudes are the northern, the 
silvery, and the Browers sedge, which wave their coarse grassy 
branches beyond the last stunted conifers. Other species, light- 
green or rusty-green, grow at lower levels. Mingling with these 
are the pale blossoms of cotton grass. Most flowerlike is elk 
or squaw grass, its large creamy blossoms somewhat resem¬ 
bling spearheads. Squaws used these tough fibers for weaving 
baskets. Manna grass, a stout handsome species with ample 
panicles and broad leaves, grows from three to five feet high 
in moist ground. Nuttal’s reed grass is a fibrous tufted variety. 
Several species of meadow, oat, rye, sheep, broom, and Bent 
grass are common to prairie and sunny slopes. Formerly pur¬ 
ple speargrass grew profusely in Alpine meadows before it 
was destroyed by grazing sheep. Howell’s fescue, also once a 
luxuriant growth, is now scarcely found except on the talus 
slopes of the higher altitudes. 

Mount Hood in summer is often spoken of as a botanist’s 
paradise, the innumerable flowering plants charming the 
senses with design and color and fragrance. In densely wooded 
canyons and high mountain meadows flourish an abundance 
of alpine and subalpine vegetation, while lower are found the 
numerous flowers of the more temperate zones. 

Since times past hikers along the old Still Creek and Sal¬ 
mon River trails trod in spring over carpets of yellow and 
blue violets, pink oxalis, golden buttercups, and white linnaea 

15 


MOUNT HOOD 


flowers. Through advancing weeks their ways were among 
waxy white Solomon’s seal, purple iris (Iris tenax), pink-tinted 
bleeding heart (Dicentera), and the tall white and pink fox¬ 
glove. The skunk cabbage, its showy golden beauty disprov¬ 
ing the unlovely name, blooms in boggy places. Here in late 
May brown-flecked orange tiger lilies nod beneath boughs of 
plumy ocean spray or arrowwood. The white Mount Hood 
lily, once profuse in this section, is now scarcely found, having 
suffered the vandalism of collectors. This and other moist 
portions south and east of the Sandy River are the natural 
habitat of three-fourths of Mount Hood’s varied vegetation. 

Where the mounting trails cross the unquiet streams of 
June gorged with melting snows, rare “deer’s head” orchids, 
large white moccasin flowers, pale marsh marigolds, shooting 
stars, and three-leaved anemones or windflowers, in white and 
shades of lavender and pink, tremble delicately, their blossoms 
often beaded with moisture. In sparse timber and open fields 
dogtooth columbines, red, blue, and white, hang their pen¬ 
dent blooms from branching arms. Blue lupines and del¬ 
phiniums, pink and yellow mountain daisies, and in late 
summer several kinds of asters and gentians, sway at the edges 
of the cool canyons and subalpine fields where moisture is 
fairly constant. Lutkea, a dwarf spiraea resembling saxifrage 
but related to the rose family, seeks damp shaded places. 
Many species of cluster lilies abound. White Clintonia or Al¬ 
pine beauty, blue-fruited when its petals go, blooms beside the 
creeping dogwood, a mass of foliage and symmetrical white 
flowers. Mountain torrents are bordered by creeping yellow 
and crimson Mimulus or monkey flowers. 

In the more open timber of the higher forest the large 
bright yellow daisy-like arnicas and blue larkspurs appear. 
Great mats of the creeping phlox, with green mossy leaves and 
starry white, pink, and lavender blossoms, tubular and six- 
petaled, creep up the sunny slopes as the snow melts. Creamy 
yellow cats-ear, the flower cup hairy within, lifts in elfin at- 

16 


FLORA AND FAUNA 


tractiveness from compact, low-growing foliage. July brings 
the season of bloom to the upper meadows. Numerous va¬ 
rieties of pentstemon or beardtongue, the aristocrats of the 
heights, nod in the cool breezes. Many species are decked with 
purple blossoms, others in shades of blue, yellow, and white. 
The large family of eriogonums, some with close-matted 
leaves, clutch roots into harsh soil; their gray foliage and 
bright blossoms of many hues are in places almost the only 
living color. 

Heather displays its greatest charm in the high meadows 
of Paradise and Eden Parks. The heathers, and the most rare 
and breath-taking of subalpine flower, the avalanche lily, grow 
at their best and almost exclusively in these moist areas where 
snow lies longest. To a slightly less degree the sun-warmed 
slopes about Timberline Lodge and Cloud Cap Inn are areas 
of floral color and fragrance. At these places the light gravelly 
soil below the glaciers runs down into the richer woodland 
mold where sharply-drained ridges alternate with cool watered 
canyons. Flowers of the cool northside parks bloom latest. 

Eastward of the peak, the yellow pine forests are dry and 
not very rich in small flowering plants. Still here are found 
an assortment of pentstemons, eriogonums, phlox, and others 
of like character. Mahala mat, or squaw mat, is a dwarf creeper 
bearing dainty balls of lavender that blooms in May and June. 
Blue and white camas, with hyacinth-like tapering flower 
heads, crowd the swampy places, principally southeast of 
Hood, around and below Barlow Butte. The roots of this 
plant were important in the diet of the Northwest Indians. 
The giant hellebore lifts its white candelabra at the edges of 
these marshy places. Red Indian paintbrush, a terminal 
bracted spike barbarically brilliant, grows in summer through¬ 
out the entire Mount Hood area. 

When autumn frosts touch Mount Hood’s lofty reaches the 
vivid beauty of the growing season fades rapidly, and is 
succeeded by the mock brilliance of frosted foliage. Succeed- 

*7 


MOUNT HOOD 


ing waves of color, transmuted from flower to leaf, wash down 
the wide slopes. All deciduous vegetation loses its living green 
and drops its leaf. In lower forests great-leaved maples stand 
like glowing golden fires amid the unalterable greens of the 
conifers. Vine maple in flaming strands creeps through the 
undercover. Thickets are leaf strewn, the harshness of rock 
emerges. Again in perennial green the conifers stand, a coun¬ 
ter note in the unvarying white of winter snow. 

FAUNA 

The impression that birds are few in the Mount Hood area 
is erroneous as many species visit the forested slopes, especially 
in the summer months, their songs somewhat muted by the 
vast silences and the great distances. Not all are singers, many 
game birds and predators inhabiting lofty crags and wooded 
canyon. Most are summer visitors but some remain the year 
round. 

The high wooded reaches afford an unrestricted flying range 
for the friendly Clark crow or nutcracker, which launches into 
swooping flight with a harsh rattling “char-r, char-r.” In plum¬ 
age of brilliant colors the rufous hummingbird, found prin¬ 
cipally on the west slopes, follows the flowering season up 
the mountain. In summer bluebirds from dry land areas 
fly in numbers to the high eastside forests. More beautiful 
than the brown Oregon vesper swallow, is the blue and white 
tree swallow which nests in hollow trunks of dead snags. The 
Western thrush or robin, a summer resident, differs only 
slightly from the varied thrush or Alaska robin, a shy resident 
seldom seen. A summer visitor with a particularly lovely song 
is the yellow-throated Audubon warbler. The water ouzel or 
“teeter tail” is a small slate-gray bird with a wren-like tail, 
and although it is not webfooted is an expert swimmer and 
diver, glibly making its way up the swiftest streams. Its hover¬ 
ing movements over water make it easily recognizable. In the 

18 


FLORA AND FAUNA 


forests the Oregon gray jay comes familiarly about camps and 
settlements and by its pilfering habits has earned the name 
of “camp robber.” The Stellar jay, mythical demigod of the 
Chinook tribes, is a familiar sight with his high pointed crest 
of black and his bright blue coat. White-breasted gray juncos, 
their tail feathers showing white in flight, are the most com¬ 
mon avian inhabitants of the snowy forest. In winter and 
spring they are companioned by flocks of chickadees and 
Western evening grosbeaks. 

Among birds of prey the bald eagle with clear yellow 
shanks and white crown, and the golden eagle with plumage 
of dark brown and lower shank joint feathered, are supreme. 
These high-soaring birds of the crags at maturity have a wing- 
spread of nearly seven feet. The sharp-shinned hawk, native 
and predatory, hovers in the upper air, its under parts white 
and rusty buff. With head feathers peaked over each ear, the 
dusky horned owl surveys the nocturnal wilderness from dense 
high branches. Rather large and powerful, it lives on game 
birds, rabbits, and small animals and snakes. 

Prominent but not numerous among the game birds is the 
Oregon ruffed grouse, large and brown-mottled with a long 
black-banded tail. Preferring the mixed woods where streams 
flow, it flies infrequently and only for short distances. The 
ringneck or Chinese pheasant is a resident by importation, 
the male dressed in colorful and variegated plumage. Usually 
running in coveys, in thickets and meadows, are black-crested 
mountain quail, small creatures in feathers of slate-gray and 
chestnut. All of these birds emit startled cries of alarm when 
surprised or in danger. Band-tailed pigeons, flying in flocks, 
are seen only on the western slopes. In coloration closely re¬ 
sembling the tame pigeon, they are distinguished by a white 
crescent on the back of the neck. Loons are rarely seen and 
the white-tailed ptarmigan or snow grouse disappeared many 
years ago. 

The regions of canyon and deep timber are the favored 

*9 


MOUNT HOOD 


habitat of wild game, particularly of the mammals. These 
creatures vivify the natural scene that otherwise would remain 
lifeless and inactive except for the movement of cloud and 
shadow and storm. In recent years, due largely to protective 
laws, animals in the area have been multiplying in number 
and are often found by hikers under unexpected circum¬ 
stances. A few members of the more daring species climb to 
Mount Hood’s very summit. 

Of the larger animals members of the deer family, although 
reputedly wary, are most in evidence. The Columbian black¬ 
tailed deer seeks the willow thickets at moderate altitudes, its 
brownish-gray pelt blending inconspicuously with the dun 
foliage. The elk or "‘Wapiti,” the great deer of the Oregon 
country, formerly found in great numbers about Mount Hood, 
has become almost extinct in the area. It is estimated that 
sixty elk remain on the upper reaches of the Clackamas River, 
while a smaller number roam the ridges to the east. The elk 
is a magnificent animal, a grown bull under wide-spreading 
antlers standing almost six feet tall at the shoulders, eight 
feet in length and weighing a thousand pounds. Black bear, 
awkward and ambling, are often encountered on the north 
side of the mountain and in the less frequented sections be¬ 
tween Summit Meadows and Olallie Lakes. 

A few mountain lions or cougars remain in the region. 
A killer of game, it usually avoids human association. Speci¬ 
mens often attain a length of eight feet from nose to tail-tip. 
Frequenting deep timber, the Oregon lynx or wildcat grows 
to a length of more than three feet and to thirty pounds 
weight. The fur is yellowish-brown often tinged with a russet 
tone. 

Although formerly of ubiquitous presence the great preda¬ 
tory timber wolf is now rare. The coyote, a smaller timorous 
and sly member of the wolf family, yaps from the eastern 
ridges. 

Lesser animals confined principally to the north side but 

20 





VIEW OF MT. HOOD FROM LOST LAKE 


U. S. Forest Service 


Lincoln 


VIEW OF SUMMIT RIDGE, SHOWING SUMMIT LOOK-OUT 




U. S. Forest Service 

VIEW OF MT. HOOD AND OLLALLIE BUTTE 


VIEW OF SUMMIT OF MT. HOOD FROM STEEL CLIFF 

Onthank 





Onthank 


ELIOT GLACIER 







Lincoln 


VIEW OF CRATER ROCK SHOWING STEAM RISING FROM FUMAROLES 


U. S. Forest Service 


A STAND OF FIR, ENGLEMEN SPRUCE AND WHITE PINE 






STRIPED CHIPMUNK 


BEAVER 


FLORA AND FAUNA 


occasionally seen elsewhere are the Pacific marten or American 
sable, equipped with slender curving claws for climbing trees. 
His dark brown body seldom exceeds a foot and a half in 
length. The Pacific fisher is the largest of the weasels and is a 
lithe and beautiful creature with fur a deep rich brown. He 
is an intelligent hunter, loving the night and the mountain 
marshes where he fishes for frogs, but he is also a swift runner, 
capturing rabbits and small game. The badger, also of the 
weasel family, is a burrower with stout digging claws and a 
squat body and his long stiff grayish coat almost obscures his 
short legs. Although slow, timid, and wary he is absolutely 
fearless. 

The Pacific beaver is a graceful swimmer and dam builder 
found in families in the streams and boggy meadow south of 
Mount Hood. The teeth are broad and chisellike in the small¬ 
eared, rodent-shaped head. The largest of the American 
beavers with body often four feet in length and weighing as 
much as fifty pounds, this is the prized animal formerly 
trapped in thousands throughout the Pacific Northwest. Once 
almost exterminated, it is slowly multiplying in numbers. Not 
a true beaver, the sewellel or mountain beaver, sometimes 
colloquially called “mountain boomer,” finds his natural 
abode in burrows in the earth. The short body, brown-skinned 
and compact, and powerful legs are adapted to digging. Of 
the rodent family, he resembles the porcupine and marmot 
rather than the beaver and is only a moderately able swimmer. 

The Western yellow-haired porcupine climbs to high alti¬ 
tudes in all sections. The forests everywhere are inhabited by 
wood rats, cunning friendly creatures familiarly called “trade” 
or “pack” rats because of a propensity for trading pine cones 
and such handy objects of no value for the camper’s smaller 
items of paraphernalia. On high rocky slopes lives the pika, 
little chief hare or “cony”; he has the interesting habit of 
making hay in summer. The golden mantled ground squirrel 
or “gray digger” is a destructive rodent seldom climbing be- 

21 


MOUNT HOOD 


yond low altitudes. Arboreal or tree squirrels are represented 
by the Cascade pine squirrel or chickaree, in brownish-gray 
coat, and the large handsome silver-gray squirrel. Chipmunks 
are numerous and climb to the highest crests, often to Mount 
Hood’s summit. Not a rodent, the Oregon snowshoe rabbit or 
varying hare has large hairy feet, enabling him to travel over 
snowy areas. This sprightly creature runs with a bounding 
hobby-horse movement, is very shy but by the alert may be 
seen rapidly crossing the high snowfields of winter. 

Many streams of the region are spawning grounds for the 
commercially valuable salmon. Up the Sandy River each spring 
swim the eulachon or smelt in countless thousands, to repro¬ 
duce their kind and die in shallow upper tributaries. They are 
so dense that fishermen take them in nets and buckets. Steel- 
head trout, renowned for their fighting spirit, are the angler’s 
delight and are found with such smaller trout as the cut¬ 
throat, the rainbow, the brook, and the beautiful Dolly Var- 
den. Over one million fish a year are liberated in the streams 
and lakes of the area. 

Many kinds of indigenous fish bait are at the command 
of the patient angler. Among the ten or more insects the cad- 
disfly is a favorite with trout. Taken from shallow waters, 
periwinkles, clams, scud, and copepod are prime bait. Four 
varieties of snails are found in moist places. 

Snakes are few and rarely seen and are principally of the 
garter variety. Rattlers emerge infrequently from among the 
sun-heated rocks of the eastward foothills. 

Summer hikers and campers should be prepared against 
the clouds of deer flies and mosquitoes that sometimes blow 
through the still air irrespective of location or altitude. 
A harmless skin-boring insect of the tick family colloquially 
called “no-see-ums” occasionally discomfits the visitor. Im¬ 
plausible as it may seem, a species of worm multiplies in num¬ 
bers in old snow or late-lying drifts, making it generally in¬ 
advisable for the climber to use any but lately-fallen snow as a 

22 


FLORA AND FAUNA 


thirst quencher. Honey bees feed avidly on the fireweed, 
storing their honey in some hollow tree, later to be discovered 
by the keen nostril of a bear. 

During the summer of 1894 Mount Hood’s forests were 
visited by great numbers of white butterflies which destroyed 
a large percentage of the white-bark pine growth on the north 
slope. They have not appeared destructively since. Some dam¬ 
age is done yearly, however, by the more than two dozen 
tree-boring beetles, the hemlock looper or “measuring worm,” 
the silver-spotted pine moth, and the locusts. The latter came 
in swarms in the early drought season of 1939 denuding por¬ 
tions of the Warm Springs area south of the mountain. Grass¬ 
hoppers are infrequent visitors and few in numbers. The 
common blue butterfly which hovers over moist places is not 
destructive. 


23 


History 


THE principal Indian tribes of the Mount Hood region 
dwelt along the Columbia River to the north, the Tygh Val¬ 
ley to the southeast and the Clackamas and Molalla Valleys 
to the southwest. Small bands of the Clackamas tribe inhabited 
the area drained by the river that today bears its name, often 
penetrating to the headwaters on the western slopes of the 
Cascades. However, their principal village was at the con¬ 
fluence of the Clackamas with the Willamette River. The 
Molallas, an off-shoot of the Cayuse Indians of eastern Ore¬ 
gon, dwelt in the southern part of Clackamas County and 
ranged to the summit of the mountains in the region between 
Mount Hood and Jefferson. The Tygh and the Tilkuni bands 
of the Tenino tribe, related to the Nez Perces, occupied the 
valleys of Tygh Creek and White River and the Tygh Prairie 
about Wapinitia southeast of Mount Hood. 

Lewis and Clark recorded that at the mouth of Mosier 
Creek, near the mouth of Hood River, and a little below 
Wau Gwin Gwin (Ind. Rushing Waters) Falls, they found 
villages of the Smackshop Indians. These were what were 
later known as the Hood River Indians. Concerning Hood 
River, which they called Labieshe’s River, the explorers wrote: 
“Just above this river is a low ground more thickly timbered 
than usual, and in front are four huts of Indians on the bank, 
which are the first we have seen on that side of the Columbia. 
The exception may be occasioned by this spot’s being more 
than usually protected from the approach of their enemies by 
the creek and the thick wood behind.” On their return up the 
river in the spring of 1806 they recorded that they stopped 

24 


HISTORY 


at another village of Smackshops near the present site of 
Mosier, where they attempted to trade with no success. They 
noted other Smackshop villages on the north bank of the river. 
The lack of settlement on the southern bank is attributed to 
the vicious attacks of the Snakes and Piutes who lived east¬ 
ward of the Deschutes in south-central Oregon. 

The lands of these mid-Columbia people, according to 
Lewis and Clark and other early writers, felt the full force 
of conflict of three tribal families: the Salish tribes of the east, 
the lower Chinook tribes of the west, and the Sahaptin tribes 
to the south. According to these writers, from 1750 to 1820 
the Snakes and Piutes made frequent raids upon the Columbia 
River tribes scattering them and in many cases possessing 
their lands. Only the stronger more obdurate bands were able 
to withstand the invaders. A few villages, principally at the 
“skookum” fishing places, stood after the final raids of the 
enemy. Among those able to maintain their stations were the 
Wascos and Wishrams at Celilo Falls and the mid-Columbia 
tribes, usually by retreating to the north shore when attacked 
by invaders. Recent field work has cast doubt upon the state¬ 
ment of these writers that the Piute tribes were in part re¬ 
sponsible for these conditions; however, the exact status of 
tribal migrations in the section is still far from settled. 

The Hood River (Smackshop) Indians, to all intents and 
purposes, spoke the same language as the Wascos and Celilos. 
This language is identified as the Upper Chinookan or Kikct 
dialect. They were related to most of the tribes on the lower 
Columbia as well as to the Clackamas and the Clowewalla 
and Kushooks near the falls of the Willamette River. Their 
principal village was at the mouth of Hood River and was 
known as Waucoma, the place of the cottonwoods. 

The culture of the Hood River Indians, like that of all the 
Chinooks, centers about the river. They are usually called 
“canoe” Indians to distinguish them from the “horse” Indians 
of the interior. Their houses were usually large wooden build- 

25 


MOUNT HOOD 


ings varying from twenty to sixty feet in length and from 
fourteen to twenty feet in width. The walls were made of split 
cedar planks held to upright poles by cords of cedar bark 
passing through holes in the boards. The roof was made of 
cedar bark. Along the ridge of the roof an opening two or 
three feet wide was left to serve as a chimney and to light the 
interior. The houses were divided into compartments and one 
house often accommodated a score of families. Fires for cook¬ 
ing and warmth were built in the center of the long house 
and the beds were arranged along the walls, separated from 
the main room by mattings. The artifacts of the tribe were 
almost entirely derived from the forest. Cedar bark fibers 
were used for mats, capes, and for the strange fringed skirts 
which was almost the only article of clothing worn by the 
women in the warmer months. Cedar, fir, hemlock and spruce 
were used for boxes, bowls, and tubs. Hemlock root and cedar 
root fibers furnished twine and nets, while grasses and withes 
were fashioned into baskets and bowls of various design. These 
people were skilled in basketry and made excellent hampers 
in which to store pounded fish, pemmican, wappato and other 
roots, and dried berries. 

The principal food of the canoe Indians was the salmon, 
supplemented by roots, berries and some game. Theodore 
Winthrop writes in Canoe and Saddle: “Salmon netted, 
hooked, trolled, speared, weired, scopped,—salmon taken by 
various sleights of savage skill,—is the chief diet. . . . There 
is exciting salmon-fishing in the turmoil of the rapids. Over 
the shoots, between boulders and rifts of rock, the Indians 
rig a scaffolding, and sweep down stream with a scoop-net. 
Salmon, working their way up in high exhilaration, are taken 
twenty an hour by every scooper. He lifts them out, brilliantly 
sheeny, and, giving them, with a blow from a billet of wood, 
a hint to be peaceable, hands over each thirty-pounder to a 
fusty attache, who, in turn, lugs them away to the squaws 
to be cleaned and dried.” The chief fishing grounds of the 

26 


HISTORY 


Hood River Indians were in the lower reaches of the White 
Salmon and Hood River. The Indian method of preserving 
salmon was to cut the fish into strips and hang it on scaffolds 
to dry in the sun. After drying the salmon was pounded be¬ 
tween flat stones to a flaky pulp. In this form it was packed 
in hampers made of woven grass lined with cured salmon 
skins. Salmon prepared in this manner remained sound and 
sweet for several years. As such it was an important article 
of trade as well as food. 

The Hood Rivers, with all other Northwest tribes, acknowl¬ 
edged a general belief in an existence after death. They be¬ 
lieved in a soul which inhabited the body yet was distinct 
from the vital principle and capable of leaving the body in 
dreams and faints. All living creatures were equally endowed, 
and consequently deserving of respect, and when they must be 
destroyed, of propitiation by ceremonial address. So it was 
that the canoe builder addressed the tree as though it were 
a conscious personality, the fisherman apologized to the first 
fish of the season as he took it from the water, and the woman 
spoke deferentially to the cedar from which she took the bark 
to make her dress. 

Speilei, the coyote, and the Thunder Bird were common 
deities. The Thunder Bird was goddess of the storm, avenger, 
originator of taboos, and patron spirit of volcanic activity. 
She made her home in the high crags of the towering white 
peaks. Speilei, the coyote, in a hundred grotesque forms, was 
the hero of many stories and the creator of many life forms as 
well as being the source of rigid taboos concerning food and 
domestic economy. It was, according to legend, a mighty strug¬ 
gle between Speilei and Wishpoosh, the beaver, that broke 
through the Cascade barrier and formed the gorge of the 
Columbia. 

Distinction of rank was marked among the tribes and ex¬ 
tended even to burial. Slaves were tossed aside or into the 
river, while the freeborn were carefully prepared for box, 

27 


MOUNT HOOD 


vault, tree, or canoe burial and a ritual of mourning ex¬ 
emplified. This took several forms; wailing at specified inter¬ 
vals for a certain period of time, cutting of the widow’s hair, 
and a pious restraining from mentioning the name of the 
dead. 

Memaloose Island, in the center of the Columbia a few 
miles above the mouth of Hood River, was used as a burial 
place by these Indians, with ceremonial cleaning and storing 
of bones. Lewis and Clark called this island Sepulchre Rock 
and described it thus: “The rock itself stands near the middle 
of the river, and contains about two acres of ground above 
high water. On this surface are scattered thirteen vaults, con¬ 
structed like those below the rapids, and some of them more 
than half filled with dead bodies.’’ The vaults below the rapids 
were described as being “formed of boards, slanting like the 
roof of a house from a pole supported by two forks. Under 
this vault the dead are placed horizontally on boards, on the 
surface of the earth, and carefully covered with mats. Many 
bodies are here laid on each other to the height of three or 
four corpses, and different articles which were most esteemed 
by the dead are placed by their side, their canoes themselves 
being sometimes broken to strengthen the vault.” The head 
of the deceased was usually placed toward the west so the 
soul might more easily find its way to Memaloose Illahee, the 
land of the dead which lay somewhere toward the setting sun. 

The culture of the Clackamas tribe was very similar to that 
of the Hood Rivers, but that of the Tyghs and the Mollalas 
differed materially. These latter were more closely related to 
the “horse” Indians of eastern Oregon. Their houses were of 
the so-called “pit-house” type which are described as being 
completely underground. According to the explorers these pit 
houses were “sunk about eight feet deep, and covered with 
strong timbers, and several feet of earth in conical form. On 
descending by means of a ladder through a hole at the top, 
which answers the double purpose of door and chimney, we 

28 


HISTORY 


found that the house consisted of a single room, nearly circu¬ 
lar and about sixteen feet in diameter.” 

The inland tribes counted wealth in horses and because they 
were free to move from place to place evolved a culture based 
on game. Buckskin ornamented with dyed porcupine quills 
formed their dress, their moccasins, their summer shelters, 
and skins dressed with the fur intact made their robes and 
blankets. Game supplemented with salmon, roots, and berries 
furnished their foods. One of the chief sources of berries of 
the Tygh and Mollala Indians were the great huckleberry 
fields on the ridge of the Cascades between Mount Hood and 
Mount Jefferson. Still the Indians from the Warm Springs 
Reservation nearby invade this region each summer to re¬ 
plenish their winter supply of berries. 

With the coming of the white men and the consequent 
breakdown of Indian culture, the aborigines slowly unlearned 
the native customs and the naive if sometimes unlovely ways 
of forest and stream. Thereafter, with almost incredible 
rapidity, they merged into the everlasting twilight of Mema- 
loose, the land of the Indian dead. 

As early as 1853 large numbers of Indians from various tribes 
were gathered together at the Warm Springs Reservation, which 
lies fifteen miles southeast of the mountain. Herded together 
in this limited area they wasted away; the Mollalas have 
vanished, the last of the Hood Rivers have died, and but a 
handful of a mixed breed of Wascos, Tyghs and Piutes survive 
under the name of the Warm Springs Indians. The Clackamas 
tribe, warlike but never large, have long since paddled their 
phantom canoes into the sunset. 

So have passed the tribes that from ancient times dwelt at 
the foot of the great white mountain. Their tribal signatures, 
the wilderness trails, remain only in the remotest areas of the 
evergreen fastness. Marked by the Forest Service as hiking 
trails, some of them are still in use. From the red Indian past 

29 


MOUNT HOOD 


into the white present, they wind threadlike—the almost 
obliterated evidence of a once proud native habitation. 

Lodge fire Myths: Geologists and anthropologists corrobo¬ 
rate the symbolism of Indian legends, tales that recall the days 
when the hero-gods prescribed the limit and expanse of the 
tides, created the land, and first peopled it with human and 
animal creatures. As the fiery Thunder Bird flapped her wings 
and flashed her eyes, mountains rose, volcanoes flared, and 
seas sank. Coyote and beaver engaged in herculean conflicts, 
to determine who should be master of the destinies of man. 
From the Rockies to the Pacific they struggled, releasing the 
waters of the Inland Sea which followed them down the Gorge 
of the Columbia. 

Passed down from father to son, the tales of these cata¬ 
clysmic events, taking unto themselves new color and new 
meaning, became the Indian myths. Through countless ages 
the story-building elements formed, changed, became blurred, 
until little remained of their original literalness except a 
picturesque and exaggerated memory. Around flickering lodge 
fires the Indians told and retold the story of the creation of 
Mount Hood, of the five brothers who made the warming 
Chinook wind, of the magical white elk of Lost Lake, and of 
the mineral springs with their bitter taste. Five of these 
legends, closely related to Mount Hood, are here retold in 
brief. 


WHEN MOUNT HOOD SPOUTED FIRE 

In the beginning of time when the Inland Sea spread from the Cascades 
eastward to the Coeur d’Alenes, a proud people lived in the land that 
stood above the flood. Peace and plenty prevailed, the waters teemed 
with fish, the forests provided game and the meadows the camas root. 
In those days when trees, animals, and birds were able to talk like people 
Koyoda Spielei was their god. He had given the people their mouths 
and had taught them wisdom. 

Dwelling on the western shore of the Inland Sea were the brother 
mountains. Pa-toe and Wy’east, both of whom loved Beautiful Squaw 


HISTORY 


Mountain. Now it happened that Beautiful Squaw Mountain grew to 
love Wy’east, but soon made him jealous by flirting with Pa-toe. The 
brothers, who were sons of the Great Spirit, soon fell to quarreling, then 
to fighting to determine which of the two should have her. 

They became so angry that from growling and rumbling and stamping 
their feet they fell to spitting fire and ashes and belching forth great 
clouds of black smoke. The earth shook and the heavens became darkened. 
Discarding their white coats, they hurled glowing rocks at each other, 
painting themselves and the surrounding country with streams of liquid 
fire. 

As this battle raged the forest was burned away, the game killed or 
put to flight, the fruit and the camas destroyed. The few surviving natives 
took refuge in caves. Meanwhile in their fighting, the brothers had so 
shaken the earth that a breach had been torn in the massive Cascade 
barrier stretching between the two mountains, and through it the vast 
waters of the Inland Sea had raced downward to the ocean. Over the 
river, so formed to the westward, a great natural bridge stood. 

Among those who had fled into caves for their lives was Beautiful 
Squaw Mountain. When the rivals came seeking her she could not be 
found. They were about to resume their vicious assaults upon each other 
when Koyoda Spielei hurried to the Great Spirit and besought him to 
come to earth, to rebuke his two sons for their violent misbehavior. 

The Great Spirit then decreed that Beautiful Squaw Mountain should 
remain hidden always and that neither brother should win her affections. 
He placed a toothless old woman, in the form of a mountain, at the 
north foot of the bridge that spanned the new river and decreed that 
the bridge should stand as a covenant of peace between his two sons, 
and over it the people of the earth should pass to lay their prayers at 
the feet of the gods. The toothless old woman, he said, would serve as a 
remembrance that beauty in women is never permanent. 

After many lonely years Beautiful Squaw Mountain, guarded by bats 
placed before the cave by the Great Spirit, stole out of her cavern by 
night to meet Wy’east. Their meetings, it was said, were not always 
discreet. 

Now it happened that Wy’east was caught one morning, hurrying 
back from his visit with Beautiful Squaw Mountain across the stone 
bridge to the south side of the river. But the Great Spirit’s wrath was 
vented, not on the lover but on the bats, which he decreed should 
thereafter hang head down in caves and places of darkness and fly only 
by night. He then recognized the loneliness of Beautiful Squaw Mountain 
and upon her promise not to see Wy’east, allowed her to remain out of 
her cave. 


3 1 


MOUNT HOOD 


When soon after she and Wy’east asked the Great Spirit’s consent to 
their marriage, he was sympathetic but refused, fearing the rage of 
Pa-toe. Affairs between the two brothers again became tense. They were 
held in check only by the words of the Great Spirit. But not for long, for 
it happened that while he was temporarily away in another part of the 
world, the brother mountains resumed their hostilities. 

Again they hurled forth white hot stones, rumbled, and shook the 
earth, cast off their white robes and painted themselves with flaming 
colors. Smoke darkened the skies and the people of the region once more 
fled to the caves. Game perished in the blackened forests. As the contest 
raged, the bridge fell in a great mass into the river. 

Pa-toe won. Wy’east admitting defeat, released all claim on Beautiful 
Squaw Mountain. Heartbroken she went to the victor, Pa-toe. At his 
feet, however, she sank into a deep slumber from which she was never 
to awaken. She is to be seen today in the Sleeping Beauty, dressed in 
drab clothes, lying just west of Pa-toe, or Mount Adams. Seeing her fate. 
Pa-toe who dearly loved her, dropped his head in grief and has never 
raised it since. 

Thereafter Wy’east, or Mount Hood, standing to the south of the river, 
maintained a proud and defiant silence, which he has never broken. 
Only in occasional moments of recollection, when smoke can be seen 
issuing from his hardly-parted lips, does he seem to be pondering a 
renewal of his wrath. 

The old and toothless woman, who guarded the stone bridge, the 
Indians say, was transformed and became the aloof and beautiful Mount 
St. Helens. 


THE MIGHTY CHIEF AND THE FIRE DEMON 

Many, many moons before the coming of the white man, a tribe of 
mighty warriors roamed the forest-clad hills about the base of Mount 
Hood. These men were not child-statured as they are now, but were tall 
as the pines that covered the hills. Their beloved chief, bravest and 
strongest of them all, was so tall that his tallest subject could easily pass 
under his outstretched arm. His rule was firm but kindly as he led his 
people to the best hunting and fishing grounds. His only concern was 
Sal-leks De-Aubs, the angry demon who dwelt deep down in the bowels 
of the great mountain. Frequently De-Aubs would throw out fire, smoke, 
and red-hot whiffs of lava that drove the redmen from their homes. 
Then the chief would grieve for his people. 

One day a dream came to him that unless he conquered the mountain 
demon and his cohorts, they would eventually cover the entire land with 
rivers of fire and drive his people forever from the earth. He determined, 

32 


HISTORY 


therefore, to engage De-Aubs and his demons single-handed and drive 
them from the mountain. After several days of arduous travel he reached 
the summit. Here he found many large stones. Lifting them, one by one, 
high over his head, he hurled them down the open entrance that led 
to the demon’s stronghold. Their anger now at a high pitch, the demons 
heated the stones red-hot and hurled them back at the valiant chief. 
For many days the battle continued. Desolation spread over the country¬ 
side. The din of the conflict was deafening even in far, far places. 

Unable to drive the brave chief from the mountain, the demons within 
it increased the fury of their defense, hurling fire, smoke, and melted 
rock high into the air. The chief, pausing to see the effects of the struggle 
upon his people, saw nothing but desolation and ruin. The entire country¬ 
side was buried beneath a sea of fire-lava. Gone were the lodges of his 
people. Gone were the forests. Streams and lakes had disappeared. No 
living thing was left alive. Dismayed, his great heart broken, the chief 
threw himself upon the ground and was quickly covered over by the 
livid streams of molten rock. 

Now it happened that a few survivors of this once mighty tribe had 
taken refuge on the peaks of neighboring mountains. As the earth cooled, 
following the awful conflict, they returned to their hunting and fishing 
grounds. Trees, bushes and grasses began to grow again, but they were 
stunted and sickly. The Indians, too, became smaller and weaker— 
remnants of the once mighty people. And so they must remain, said the 
medicine men, until their chief returned to free them from their de¬ 
formities and to conquer, for all time, the fire demon, Sal-leks De-Aubs. 
As a sign of his return, the huge shadow of an Indian chief would appear, 
they said, upon the north slope of Mount Hood. But not until this came 
to pass would the redmen regain their former stature and strength. 

All this happened, the last remembering Indian said, in the long, long 
past. Today, on the wooded north slopes of Mount Hood there appears, 
on each afternoon that the sun shines, the enormous shadow-profile of an 
Indian, each feature prominent, clear cut, and chief-like. Unmistakably, 
it is the mountain’s own shadow, at its best at about three o’clock. 
As the sun sets its symmetry is spoiled. But the eyes of the native people 
who read legendary meaning into the shadow no longer gaze southward 
at the whitened peak from the place Waucomah. 


THE WHITE ELK OF LOST LAKE 

The mirror lake that lies below the north shoulder of Mount Hood, 
known as Lost Lake, was not always so-called. Prior to 1880 the few 
white men who had seen it called it Sieelhead Lake, or Blue Lake, mis- 

33 


MOUNT HOOD 


taking it for that nearby body of water. But the Indians called it 
Kwoneksamach. 

Before the coming of white men, the Indians, threading the Walk Up 
Trail that ran from The Dalles to the Sandy River, passed the beautiful 
lake that in fair weather wore like a garland the reflection of Mount 
Hood. This remote forested area of grandeur and “plenty game,” was a 
favorite feeding ground for elk, and many bands of Indians came here to 
hunt. 

Among the more frequent hunters was a champion killer of the elk. 
His totem, it was said, was a white elk that accompanied him and on 
occasions led him to the fattest of the feeding elk bands. This white elk 
was the Indian’s charm of death. 

Now it happened that another hunter of considerable might thought 
to challenge the champion elk killer. He called on the gods of the chase, 
made strong medicine, and went to the great killing. It was not long 
before the elk of the region lay dead in large numbers. The challenger 
had surpassed the champion in slaughter. 

This made the champion hunter so angry that he turned upon the 
white elk and planted an arrow in its heart. Thereupon, the white elk, 
knowing he had received his death wound, plunged into the lake called 
Kwoneksamach and, swimming into deep water, began to sink. 

When the mighty hunter realized that he was about to lose the white 
elk, he suddenly regretted his rashness and jumped in to pull the elk 
ashore and, if possible, to save it. Meanwhile, the rival hunter, seeing the 
white elk about to drown and covetous of its power, also jumped into 
the lake to rescue the animal. The three, struggling in the deceptive 
mirror-like waters, sank into the bottomless depths. 

After that—so the tale is told—few Indians would go near the beautiful 
lake. For years the weird calls of two loons that lived in the reeds by 
the lake were believed to be the spirits of the drowned Indian hunters. 


THE CHINOOK WIND 

Various legends have been told of the Chinook Wind, that rises at 
unexpected times in winters of great cold and suddenly half-strips the 
peaks of snow, and sweeps bare the low places. Whistling and roaring, 
this southwest wind melts the surface snows of Mount Hood even at 
high altitudes. Within as short a time as two hours the thermometer 
may mount as much as fifty or sixty degrees. 

According to the legend five brothers living on the Columbia River 
east of Mount Hood, were responsible for the friendly and warm Chinook 
Wind. To the northeast five other brothers controlled the cold and bitter 

34 


HISTORY 


Walla Walla Wind. The two sets of brothers continually fought each 
other, sweeping with their strength, first one way and then the other 
across the country of desert and mountains. They raised great clouds of 
dust and blew down whole forests. Sweeping into the high Cascades, 
they heaped up the great snows and in turn melted down the huge 
drifts. 

One day the Walla Walla brothers, jealous of opposition, challenged 
the Chinook brothers to a wrestling match, with the understanding that 
the losers should forfeit their lives. This challenge was accepted. Koyoda 
Spielei, god of all the Indians, agreed to act as referee and to decapitate 
the defeated adversaries. 

Koyoda Spielei went at once to the grandparents of the Chinook 
brothers, and advised them to smear grease on the wrestling ground that 
their grandsons might not fall. In like manner he secretly advised the 
grandparents of the Walla Walla brothers to spread the ground with a 
sheet of ice. 

In the battle that ensued it was almost impossible for anyone to keep 
upright. However, since it took longer to spread the grease than the ice, 
the Chinook brothers were all thrown. Whereupon Spielei, according to 
the terms of the challenge, put the five defeated brothers to death. 

Now the eldest of the Chinook brothers had left an infant son at home 
in his lodge. In due time this son grew to manhood. He vowed to avenge 
the deaths of his father and uncles. To properly prepare his strength 
for the inevitable battle with the Walla Walla brothers, he practiced 
pulling up by the roots tree after tree. Soon he became so strong that he 
could uproot the largest fir trees and toss them about like straws. He was 
now ready for battle. 

Proceeding up the Columbia River he stopped at the lodge of his 
grandparents, who, suffering from the tyranny of the Walla Walla 
brothers, were living in a most deplorable condition. It had been the 
the custom of these vicious fellows to capture the aged grandfather of the 
Chinooks, while he fished in the Columbia River, upset his canoe and 
cause him to lose his fish. On learning this, the young Chinook wrestler 
instructed his grandfather to fish once again in the river, while he kept 
a lookout for the Walla Wallas. 

As the latter swept down to harass the old man, they were astonished 
to see the canoe of the fisherman speed swiftly and safely to the shore. 
All their blowing could not endanger the old man, nor cause his fish to 
be spilled back into the river. 

When the news became known abroad that a new wrestling champion 
had arisen, the Walla Walla brothers issued a new challenge under the 

35 


MOUNT HOOD 


same terms as before. This the young Chinook accepted eagerly, even 
though he would be one against five. 

In the struggle that followed the Chinook wrestler speedily threw each 
of the first four Walla Walla brothers. Each was in turn beheaded. The 
fifth, and youngest, however, surrendered without a struggle. Thereupon 
Spielei decreed that he might live, but that he must be deprived of his 
power to freeze people to death. 

Spielei then ordained that the Chinook champion should thereafter 
blow upon the mountain ridges first, thus to prepare the people of lower 
altitudes for his coming. And so has it been since the long ago times. 


HOW THE MINERAL SPRINGS RECEIVED THEIR BITTER TASTE 

When the years of man’s existence counted but few, when the tomahawk 
was bright with peace among the tribes, there were two brothers. Twins, 
they were. As they grew to manhood, luck favored one, while the other 
knew only continual disappointment. As a consequence hatred grew in 
the breast of the less favored youth. Out of a rancorous spirit he sought 
to quarrel with his more fortunate brother. Failing in repeated attempts, 
the embittered one murdered the other as he stooped to drink from a 
forest spring. He fell into the spring and sank beneath the surface. 
Immediately great bubbles and gaseous spirits rose from the watery depths 
and out of a cloud of vapor there appeared an old, old Indian with 
white hair. He proclaimed himself the creator of the human race, saying, 
“Accursed of mankind, thou hast sharpened the tomahawk. In its sharpen¬ 
ing thou hast unseated sense and embittered man, and strife shall fill the 
earth as the wage of thy sin. Go! Wherever thou drinkest from a spring 
its waters shall become polluted.” 

Through succeeding years the murderer wandered from place to place 
over the earth. Wherever he stopped to drink at a forest pool there 
lingered the bitterness of his own lips, and the remembrance of his 
crime. That was long ago and it was he who gave the taste of bitterness 
to the mineral springs of Oregon, such as are to be found at places in 
the Cascades between Mount Hood and Mount Jefferson. 

The First White Men: So far as known the first white men 
to look upon the towering white peak of Mount Hood was the 
crew of H.M.S. Chatham of the British Navy, under the 
command of Lieutenant William R. Broughton, who sailed up 
the fabled “River of the West” on October 30, 1792. Entering 
the river a few months after its discovery by Robert Gray, 

36 



Atkcson 


SNOW-MANTLED TREES 


SHEEP GRAZING IN MT, HOOD NATIONAL FOREST 

U. S. Forest Service 




BUILDING A FIRE LINE 


U. S. Forest Service 


U. S. Fortst Service MULE DEER 





/incoln 


CASTLE CRAGS AND ILLUMINATION ROCK 
WITH CASCADES IN BACKGROUND 




VIEW OF MT. HOOD FROM ZIGZAG MOUNTAIN 

(Squaw Grass in Foreground ) 


Lincoln 


U. S. Forest Service 


A BURNED-OVER AREA, MT. HOOD NATIONAL FOREST 





















HISTORY 


Broughton passed the confluence of the Columbia and Willa¬ 
mette Rivers and reached a point opposite the mouth of the 
Sandy River. The journal of Edward Bell, clerk of the Chat¬ 
ham, records: “We still continued our route, and in the 
Evening of the 30th we came to a highly sandy point of the 
River, from whence we had a beautiful view of a very remark¬ 
able high mountain, whose summit, and a considerable extent 
below it, was covered with Snow, and presented a very grand 
view, this Captn Broughton named Mount Hood.” Broughton 
named the mountain in honor of his patron, Rear-Admiral 
Samuel Hood. 

The first Americans to view the peak from the east were 
undoubtedly the members of the Lewis and Clark expedition. 
On October 21, 1805, Captain Clark recorded that “we ob¬ 
served the conical mountain towards the southwest which the 
Indians say is not far to the left of the great falls. From its 
vicinity to the place we called it the Timm or Falls moun¬ 
tain.” Not until they had passed the mouth of the Sandy 
River, at the lower gateway to the Columbia River gorge, 
did they recognize the peak as Broughton’s Mount Hood. 

Thereafter Mount Hood became a significant geographical 
feature to the early adventurers into the Oregon country. 
David Douglas, Captain Fremont, Lieutenant Phil Sheridan, 
and many others noted its serene sky-piercing loveliness. On 
some early maps the Cascades are labeled the Presidents’ 
Range and for many years Mount Hood was frequently re¬ 
ferred to as Mount Washington. In his Memoirs of 1839 Hall 
Jackson Kelly wrote: “The eastern portion of the region 
referred to (i.e., western Oregon) is bordered by a mountain 
range running nearly parallel to the spine of the rocky moun¬ 
tains and to the coast, and which, from the number of its; 
elevated peaks, I am inclined to call the Presidents’ Range.. 
These isolated and remarkable cones, which are now called 
by the hunters of the Hudson’s Bay Company by other names, 
I have christened after our ex-Presidents.” 

37 


MOUNT HOOD 


Into a region in which even the most important geographic 
features were inadequately mapped came the fur traders and 
trappers, the missionaries, the pioneers, the farmers. All 
vaguely reckoned distance and locality from Mount Hood. 
In the records, diaries, and letters of many decades there occur 
again and again reference and tribute to the majestic peak. 
It was inevitable that the mountain should become the dis¬ 
tinguishing landmark of a wide area and should symbolize 
the spirit of the region. In summation of this attitude John 
Muir has written: “There stood Mount Hood in all the glory 
of the alpen glow, looming immensely high, beaming with 
intelligence. It seemed neither near nor far. . . . The whole 
mountain appeared as one glorious manifestation of divine 
power, enthusiastic and benevolent, glowing like a counte¬ 
nance with ineffable repose and beauty, before which we could 
only gaze with devout and lowly admiration.” 

Building the Highways: The Cascade barrier was given 
historic emphasis when the immigrant party of which Samuel 
K. Barlow was captain starting from Illinois in the spring of 
1845, arrived at The Dalles late in September. So far as these 
pioneers could at first see, this frontier outpost was the end 
of the westward journey by land; continuation must be by 
the hazardous Columbia River water route. The excessive 
transportation charges, the lack of sufficient boats, and the 
scarcity and high cost of feed determined Barlow to proceed 
by land. “God never made a mountain without some place 
to go over it,” he said. 

On September 24, 1845, the Barlow party, consisting of a 
train of seven wagons and nineteen persons, wheeled out of 
The Dalles and proceeded southward along the Deschutes. 
Crossing the White River, they climbed toward the summit 
of the Cascades. 

Following Barlow’s tracks, on October 1, came Joel Palmer, 
an Indiana farmer with a train of twenty-three wagons. Along 

38 


HISTORY 


the White River, Palmer overtook the Barlow train. Uniting 
their efforts, the Barlow and Palmer Companies organized 
for the construction of a roadway over the mountains to the 
Willamette Valley and the Oregon settlements. For road 
building work the parties had only axes and saws, conse¬ 
quently much of the necessary clearing was done by burning. 
Meanwhile, Samuel Barlow and Joel Palmer, scouting ahead, 
blazed a wagon trail across the divide at a point that there¬ 
after became known as Barlow Pass. Since the season of 
snowfall was near at hand, it was decided to push through 
with the company and stock, leaving the wagons behind in a 
hastily built shelter. One man remained as a winter guard. 

A son, Willie Barlow, following an Indian trail to Oregon 
City secured a packtrain of provisions. Returning, he met the 
disheartened party struggling through the giant trees and 
swamps, and over the rough, sometimes precipitate grades. 
With the weaker of the party mounted, some of them on the 
backs of cows, but with most of them tramping afoot, the last 
of the immigrants reached Oregon City on Christmas Day, 
1845. 

Samuel Barlow petitioned the provisional legislature for the 
right to construct a toll road around the mountain, over the 
trail taken by his party. The petition was granted and some 
money secured to aid in the work. Construction of the road 
was so far advanced by August 1846 that it was ready for 
immigrant travel that year. Before snow closed the road “one 
hundred and forty-five wagons, fifteen hundred and fifty-nine 
head of horses, mules and horned cattle, and one drove of 
sheep” had passed through the toll gates, a fee being charged 
to maintain the road in passable condition. For two years 
Captain Barlow personally collected toll. 

From 1848 to 1862 the road was leased to various operators. 
These men did little except collect toll and the roadway 
lapsed into an almost impassable state. In October 1862, the 
Mount Hood Wagon Road Company, capitalized at $25,000, 

39 


MOUNT HOOD 


was organized to reconstruct the way. This work, left incom- 
pleted, was taken over by the Cascade Road and Bridge Com¬ 
pany in May 1864. Extensive improvements were made in the 
route; bridges were built and swampy sections of the right of 
way were corduroyed. 

Thus the Barlow Road became the first highway into the 
Oregon country west of the Cascades, and the Mount Hood 
region became Oregon’s first accessible mountain area, its 
evergreen gates flung open to coming guests and to eventful 
history. The construction of this road, wrote Judge Matthew 
P. Deady, prominent Oregon jurist, some years later, “con¬ 
tributed more towards the prosperity of the Willamette Val¬ 
ley and the future state of Oregon than any other achieve¬ 
ment prior to the building of the railways in 1870.” 

For over a decade the Barlow Road was the only highway 
into the Mount Hood region. Then in June 1859, an attempt 
was made by Captain A. Walker and crew to build a road 
southward from Hood River. It was their intention to cut a 
route through the forest, following the old Indian Walk-up 
trail through Lolo Pass to a junction with the Barlow Road 
near Sandy. However, the venture proved abortive and the 
road was never finished. 

In 1883 another and more successful attempt was made to 
penetrate the wilderness area to the north of the mountain. 
Into this region of steep slopes a road-building crew pushed 
southward, continuing through the summer and into the snows 
of the autumn. This crude highway, without bridges or estab¬ 
lished grades, steep and circuitous, was completed the follow¬ 
ing summer. Over this road the open hacks of the period 
jolted toward timberline. 

In the meantime the old Barlow Road passed successively 
to the Cascade Road and Bridge Company, the Mount Hood 
and Barlow Road Company, to be finally bought by Henry 
Wemme, who in 1912 purchased all right to the road for 
$5,400. After a few years of operation as a toll road, he opened 

40 


HISTORY 


it to travel without charge, adding greatly to the popularity 
of the Mount Hood wilderness area. After Wemme’s death 
in 1917, George W. Joseph as his attorney, held the road 
in trust until 1919, when as Wemme had requested, he 
deeded it to the Oregon State Highway Commission and the 
Federal Government, “to have and to hold unto the . . . 
State of Oregon, with all its mountains and hills, its forests 
and vines, its flowers and shrubs, its valleys and dells, its 
rivers and streams, its lights and shadows, its trails and paths, 
and the beauty and grandeur of Mount Hood, for the use, 
benefit, and pleasure of all forever.” 

Agitation for building a modern highway had persisted 
many years. Finally in 1919, beginning at a point two miles 
west of Government Camp and including the difficult Zigzag 
Canyon and Laurel Hill grades, the first Loop Highway work 
was begun. Sections of the old Barlow grade were utilized. 
A second work unit soon commenced grading in the upper 
Hood River Valley. Federal aid was secured and with the 
assistance of state funds the west leg of the Loop, from Gov¬ 
ernment Camp to the west boundary of the Mount Hood 
National Forest at Zigzag, was opened in 1920. The Hood 
River or east leg of the Loop was completed for public use 
in 1926. A month after its opening it was closed by an August 
storm that poured a flood down the glacial watercourse of 
White River. The new highway bridge went out before a 
great wall of mud and boulders. Before the following spring 
repairs had been made and the new scenic route was opened 
to public use and has since been second only to the Columbia 
River Highway in attraction and appeal. 

Trails and Trail Makers: From ancient times an Indian 
trail passed up Hood River Valley, skirted Lost Lake and 
climbed over the northwest shoulder of Mount Hood through 
Lolo Pass to Bull Run Lake, which the earliest pioneers called 
Chetwood, meaning black bear. From thence it ran to Walker 

4i 


MOUNT HOOD 


Prairie and the Willamette Falls. This trail coursed generally 
from the northeast to southwest, and was called by the red 
tribesmen the Walk-Up Trail. This was later corrupted to 
Walker Trail. With the coming of white settlers, cattle were 
often driven over it. John Driver, pioneer stockman, said that 
he could ride the entire distance on a long summer day. The 
trail, reaching 4,600 feet altitude, was never popularly used, 
since it was too steep for wagon travel. 

Other trails climbed through the high wilderness of peak 
and canyon. These were first the paths of the native wild 
life imprinted by hoof and paw. Over them the elk and deer 
climbed to the green mountain meadows, munching the chill, 
harsh grasses as the snows of spring retreated. They were used 
by the black bear, clumsily ambling forth to feed in the 
huckleberry thickets. The wolf and the marten and the cougar 
sped along them to the kill. 

But the trails that were ways of life for deer and bear and 
cougar were also the ways to death, for over them the Indian 
hunted. Moccasins, deftly placed by speeding feet, marked 
the trail a little more plainly and padded the rubble-littered 
path a little more compactly into elemental earth. 

From the Barlow Wagon Road many early forest paths 
climbed to the summit of Mount Hood. Over them settler- 
guides led an occasional climbing party, indulging a pastime 
that grew with the years. Among these early trail makers 
were Perry Vickers (1868), H. C. Yocum (1883), William 
Gladstone Steel (1883), Francis E. Little (1883), and George 
Prosser (1885). The first trip afoot around the mountain was 
made from the north side in September 1892 by G. W. Gra¬ 
ham and W. A. Langille, nearby residents. 

When in 1893 the Cascade Forest Reserve was created by 
the Federal government the building of trails to strategic 
points for fire lookouts greatly stimulated trail development 
in the Mount Hood area. Old ways were cleared and widened 
and new routes were blazed. Many of these were opened for 

42 


HISTORY 


hiking and some were marked. Early in the present century 
several of these forest paths, particularly the Salmon River 
Trail and the Twin Bridges-Paradise Park Trail, both on the 
south side, and the Lost Lake-Wahtum Lake Trail on the 
north side, became popular hiking routes. 

In 1897 Elijah Coalman, then only 15 years of age, became 
Mount Hood’s best-known and best-loved summit guide. 
Making his first climb with Yocum, he thereafter frequently 
assisted his instructor and was soon leading summit-climbing 
parties. In 1914 he became a guide for the Forest Service, 
and although his activities each summer were centered on 
the snow fields and the peak, where in 1915 he built the look¬ 
out cabin, he penetrated much of the wild lower area, blazing 
and marking trails. Coalman, Thomas Sherrard, and others of 
the Forest Service, who took charge of the district between 
1905 and 1908, gradually developed an elaborate trails system. 

Aiding in the early trail building enterprise were the several 
mountaineering groups that came into being toward the close 
of the last century. The first of these, the Oregon Alpine Club, 
was organized in 1887 but soon went out of existence. In July 
1894 the Mazamas were organized. 

The Mazamas cut new trails and marked old ones, cleared 
campsites and built shelters. Many of their outing practices 
were adopted as regulations for the public visiting this and 
other mountain areas. Much of the work of keeping the trails 
open has been carried on through the years by this organiza¬ 
tion, and by other trails clubs of more recent birth, notably 
the Hood River Crag Rats, the Wy’east Climbers, the Path¬ 
finders, and the Trails Club of Oregon. 

When the A. H. Sylvester mapping party of the United 
States Geographic Survey charted the Mount Hood quad¬ 
rangle in 1907, they followed many of the early trails. Mainte¬ 
nance work has since occupied much of the time and efforts 
of the Forest Service. Since 1933, CCC crews have aided ma¬ 
terially in trail clearance and construction. In some instances, 

43 


MOUNT HOOD 


fire roads have replaced the more important of the early fire 
trails. At convenient points campsites have been cleared and 
community kitchens and shelters erected. The trails have been 
more carefully marked and logged. 

Today the entire Mount Hood area is accessible by trail. 
The traveler may climb to high, tranquil lakes, or to water¬ 
falls half-hidden in narrow clefts of the mountain’s rocky 
wall. He may mount canyon ridges, or cross over the bold 
escarpment of a butte’s shoulder to command a sweeping view 
of vast horizons, of forested hills and snow-clad peaks. 


44 


Mount Hood National Forest 


MOUNT HOOD stands approximately in the center of the 
Mount Hood National Forest. Under the authority of the 
Fundamental Act of March 3, 1891, President Harrison on 
June 17, 1892, by proclamation, created the Bull Run Tim- 
berland Reserve. On September 28, 1893 he added the Cascade 
Range Forest Reserve. Fifteen years later on July 1, 1908, this 
area was subdivided into several National Forests, one of 
which was named the Oregon National Forest. It was from 
this forest, on January 21, 1924, that the Mount Hood Na¬ 
tional Forest was carved -with a total area of 1,183,765 acres. 
Within the forest is the “Bull Run Reserve,” containing 
141,000 acres closed to the public by act of Congress to pro¬ 
tect the watershed from which the dty of Portland receives 
its water supply. 

The forest covers both sides of the Cascade Range, from 
the Columbia River to the Clackamas-Santiam divide. It in¬ 
cludes 84,258 acres of privately owned lands, leaving a net 
government ownership of 1,099,357 acres * Almost the entire 
area is forested with conifers, approximating 22,000,000,000 
board feet. Fir species cover the entire western slope, with 
Ponderosa pine confined principally to the eastern side. The 
greater proportion of this lumber footage is contained in the 
Clackamas watershed and the Bull Run water reserve. 

Because of its proximity to Portland and the heavily popu¬ 
lated north Willamette Valley, the Mount Hood National 
Forest is the best known of Oregon’s thirteen national forests 
and is the most highly developed recreationally. Its attractions 
are entirely those of a rough, rugged, mountainous country, 

45 


MOUNT HOOD 


of superb landscape and awe-inspiring solitude. Hardly less 
attractive than Mount Hood itself are the numerous water¬ 
falls and the many beautiful lakes within the forest. Alpine 
meadows, in season gorgeous with color, spread wide amidst 
the prevailing evergreens. 

Within the Mount Hood National Forest, the Forest Service 
and the State Highway Department have jointly constructed 
hundreds of miles of motor roads, and have cleared many more 
miles of trails through dim forests and over steep slopes. 
Points of picturesque appeal and historic interest have been 
made available to all. The Forest Service provides numerous 
convenient camp sites and adequate shelters, and owns and 
supervises the operation of the mountain’s most recent and 
most impressive man-made landmark. Timberline Lodge. 
Constructed in 1936 and 1937 by the Works Progress Ad¬ 
ministration, the Lodge stands high on the south slope of 
Mount Hood. Elsewhere among the great trees, are nine other 
lodges and taverns, privately owned, and hundreds of summer 
homes erected by Oregon citizens. Ski trails and areas de¬ 
veloped and supervised by the Forest Service lead down the 
snowy grades and over the winter-whitened landscape. 

All of the resources of the Mount Hood National Forest— 
recreation, timber, water for irrigation and power, wild life 
and grass—are managed under a multiple-use plan, which co¬ 
ordinates and systematizes the utilization of each resource so 
that the entire forest contributes to the social and economic 
welfare of local communities, the state, and the nation. 

Over 384,800 people, using more than three million gallons 
of water daily, comprising the population of the cities of Port¬ 
land, Oregon City, Cascade Locks, The Dalles, Gladstone, 
Gresham, Dufur, Corbett, and Rhododendron drink water 
from streams rising within the Mount Hood National Forest. 
Bull Run water is bottled and sold for domestic and office 
use in many Pacific Coast cities. 

Supplying 7,335 persons living on 1,771 farms covering 

46 


MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST 


40,469 acres, water from streams and lakes within the forest 
is carried through pipes and ditches to lands adjacent to the 
Forest boundary. This use of water for irrigation purposes is 
carried on in co-operation with local associations of farmers, 
state projects, and Federal bureaus. 

Electric power companies using hydraulic energy whose 
source lies within the Mount Hood Forest develop a total of 
90,825 KW, and supply electricity for light, cooking, and water 
heating to 60,513 homes. Hydraulic power plants are at Casa- 
dero. Bull Run, River Mill, Tygh Valley, and Cascade Locks. 

Owing to the fact that privately owned stands of timber are 
more accessible to market than those found in the Mount 
Hood National Forest, cutting to date within the area has 
been limited. The total volume of timber cut within the past 
ten-year period totals approximately 130,000,000 board feet, 
with a stumpage value of over $170,000. Future cuttings will be 
on a basis allowable under sustained yield management. A total 
of nearly 7,000 acres has been planted with young trees. 
Of this, 2,797 acres were on old burns which had failed to 
reforest naturally, and 4,128 acres were formerly private lands 
cut over and later acquired by the United States. Plantings 
now range from three feet to thirty feet high and are almost 
entirely Douglas fir. 

In the more open timber stands, particularly in the Pon- 
derosa or yellow pine area on the east slope of the Cascade 
Range, a valuable undergrowth of herbaceous and shrubby 
vegetation is found. This comprises the important food plants 
for big game animals and domestic livestock. Summer range, 
which is important to the profitable operation of the stock 
raising industry, is utilized by nearby stockmen. About 2,000 
head of cattle and 20,000 head of sheep are given yearly pas¬ 
turage. A program of conservation preserves the forage crop. 
Management of the range is regulated in a manner to assure 
the continued enjoyment of other forest uses. Soil erosion 
and water losses are minimized by a program of control. 

47 


MOUNT HOOD 


Fire is by far the greatest enemy of the forests, although 
insects and disease including beetles and white pine blister 
rust, annually take their toll. From 25 to 30 per cent of the 
Mount Hood Forest area was devastated by fire before the 
present system of national Forest administration and protec¬ 
tion was inaugurated in 1905. These early fires left innumer¬ 
able dead trees standing and a heavy accumulation of debris 
which, together with the steepness of the slopes and adverse 
weather conditions later prevailing, made fire fighting ex¬ 
tremely difficult. For years roads and trails within the area 
were few, and protection facilities were limited. As a conse¬ 
quence additional acreage was burned over. Later years, how¬ 
ever, show a marked decrease in fire losses, in spite of a tre¬ 
mendous increase in the number of forest users. This has 
come about through increased funds and additional protec¬ 
tion facilities. 

The availability of CCC and other emergency workers dur¬ 
ing the past five years has made possible an extensive protec¬ 
tion and improvement program. This program, operative at 
the present time, includes road and trail building, the string¬ 
ing of telephone lines, the development of fire breaks, and the 
construction of lookout houses, towers, and other structures. 
All endangering debris is being cleared. CCC men are trained 
and effectively used in fire prevention and fighting activities. 
As a result, the fire losses during the past five years have been 
very small. An average of only 21 acres of the National Forest 
land has been burned over annually—a loss of 46,000 feet, 
board measure, an average total damage of a little over $700. 

All of the activities within the Mount Hood National Forest 
are controlled and supervised by the Forest officials, acting for 
the Federal government. 

In 1931 the Forest Service set aside part of the north and 
west slopes of Mount Hood as a primitive area, to be preserved 
as nearly as possible in its natural state. The Mount Jefferson 

48 


MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST 


Primitive Area embraces a portion of the Mount Hood Forest 
to the south, largely in the Clackamas watershed. 

The Mount Hood Recreation Area, which includes a wide 
stretch on both sides of the Loop Highway from Zigzag Ranger 
Station to a point just beyond Polally Forest Camp on the 
north side, was created and defined in 1926. Within the limits 
of this extensive section the mountain’s recreational activities 
are centered and the major sports’ accommodations have been 
made. The Recreational Area comprises approximately one- 
fifth of the Mount Hood Forest acreage. 


49 




































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































PART II 


Tours And Trails 



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Motor Tours 


TOUR 1 


Portland—Sandy—Zigzag Ranger Station—Government Camp 
—Timberline Lodge Junction—Timberline Lodge; 64.2 m.. 
State 50. 

Bituminous macadam pavement. 

State 50, the southern leg of the Mount Hood Loop High¬ 
way, leaves PORTLAND 0 m. (69 alt., 301,815 pop.), by way 
of the Ross Island Bridge and Powell Valley Boulevard and 
winds southeastward through areas of suburban homes and 
berry fields to GRESHAM, 14 m. (295 alt., 1,635 pop.), site 
of Multnomah County Fair, and to SANDY, 25.8 m. (1,012 
alt., 234 pop.), entrance to the Mount Hood region. 

Zigzag Ranger Station, 43-7 m. (1,400 alt.), Forest Service 
headquarters for the district (camp fire permits and general 
information), is at the west entrance to the MOUNT HOOD 
NATIONAL FOREST (see Mount Hood National Forest). 
Just north of the highway is the confluence of the Sandy and 
Zigzag rivers. The Sandy was first named Quicksand River by 
Lewis and Clark in 1805 when they explored the region near 
its mouth. 

RHODODENDRON, 45.7 m. (1,600 alt., 50 pop.), named 
from the profusion of the blossoming shrub, is a community of 
summer homes and commercial resorts. (Hotel; cabins; service 
station; tourist supplies.) Just east of Rhododendron is a junc¬ 
tion with the PIONEER BRIDLE TRAIL (see Hiking and 
Riding Tours), which follows the old Barlow Road and 
roughly parallels the highway to Government Camp. 

Toll Gate Forest Camp, 46.5 m., is at the side of the old 
Barlow Road tollgate. Over this road and through this gate 
came many of the early settlers of the Willamette Valley and 
of western Washington. The road was first traced by members 
of the pioneer wagon train of 1845, endured much hard- 

53 


MOUNT HOOD 


ship and suffering in the journey. In 1848 it was made a toll 
road by the provisional government. A toll of $5 for each 
wagon and $1 for a single head of stock was levied. After two 
seasons, considering himself repaid for his outlay in building 
the road, Barlow relinquished his control of the highway to 
the territorial government and for a time it was free of toll. 
Later Foster and Young rechartered the road as a toll road. 

A building of shakes, the third tollgate structure on the old 
road, still stands at the old site. The original building was 
burned many years ago. A large corral stood near by. 

At 48.8 m. is a junction with a forest road. 

Right on this, road to Camp Creek Forest Camp, 0.3 m. (2,100 alt.), 
an entry point for the Pioneer Bridle Trail and start of Still Creek Trail 
(see Hiking And Riding Tour No. 5). 

The Oregon Trail Tavern, 51 m is a commercial resort. 
On the walls of the foyer hangs a picture of the original Bar- 
low Tollgate building. 

At Twin Bridges Forest Camp, 51.3 m. (2,907 alt.), is the 
start of the Paradise Park Trail (see Hiking and Riding Tour 
No. 6). 

From Barlow Forest Camp, 52 m. (3,000 alt.), Hidden Lake 
Way leads (L) upward to Timberline Cabin and the snout of 
Zigzag Glacier (see Hiking and Riding Tour No. 7 ). 

LAUREL HILL, 52.6 m., was the most dreaded portion of 
the pioneer trail. The wagons were let down by means of 
ropes snubbed to trees and some of the rope burns made in 
this procedure are still on the older trees. Another method of 
braking the descent was by means of trees tied to the rear of 
the wagons and dragged along the ground. One pioneer wrote: 
“we went down Laurel Hill like shot off of a shovel.” In 1853 
E. W. Conyers wrote in his diary: “The road on this hill is 
something terrible. It is worn down into the soil from five to 
seven feet, leaving steep banks on both sides, and so narrow 
that it is almost impossible to walk alongside of the cattle for 
any distance without leaning against the oxen. The emigrants 
cut down a small tree about ten inches in diameter and about 
forty feet long, and the more limbs it has on it the better. 
This tree they fastened to the rear axle with chains or ropes, 
top end foremost, making an excellent brake.” 

A local legend about “the treasure of Laurel Hill” is cur¬ 
rent. Two outlaws quarreled over their spoil while en route to 

54 


MOTOR TOURS 


Portland over the old Barlow Road. On Laurel Hill the quar¬ 
rel culminated in the death of one of the robbers. The other 
buried the gold beneath the body of his companion at the 
foot of a huge pine, and fled on to Portland where he ob¬ 
tained work, married and settled down. Perhaps it was fear of 
the place where he had committed murder but he never re¬ 
turned to the spot where he had buried his stolen wealth. 
Just before his death he told the story to his son and de^ 
scribed to him the location of the cache. The son spent several 
summers in vain endeavor to find the treasure. He found the 
large pine blazed as his father had described it but no bones 
or money lay at its base. The marks of the digging are still 
discernible. Perhaps somewhere on Laurel Hill is a lonely 
unmarked grave and beneath it bags of gold. 

At 53.2 m. is the start (R) of the Yocum Falls-Mirror Lake 
Trail (see Hiking and Riding Tour No. 8 ). 

From the Summit of Laurel Hill, 53.5 m. (3,425 alt.), is 
a beautiful view of Mount Hood which looms cameo-like 
against the northeast horizon. On the slope of Laurel Hill a 
short distance from the lookout is an old apple tree thought 
to have been planted by a pioneer or to have grown from seed 
dropped by an immigrant on the old road. 

At 54 m. is an extensive parking space from which a trail 
leads (R) to the Ski Bowl, the Slalom Course and the Tom- 
Dick-Harry Mountain Ski Racing Trail (see Winter Sports and 
Ski Trails ). 

GOVERNMENT CAMP, 56 m. (3,870 alt.), was so desig¬ 
nated when a detachment of Federal soldiers was forced to 
abandon its wagons here in the winter of 1849. The military 
train was in command of Lieutenant William Frost. The place 
was at first spoken of as “the government camp in the moun¬ 
tains.” At Government Camp are several hotels, stores, and 
service stations, which cater to the visitor at all seasons of the 
year. A resort hotel begun by O. C. Yocum in 1900 was the 
nucleus from which grew the present settlement. In 1911-12 
Elijah Coalman, the noted Mount Hood guide, erected the first 
“Government Camp Hotel.” Taking over the Yocum home¬ 
stead of 160 acres. Coalman set up a portable sawmill and 
manufactured the lumber for his hotel. The building was 
three stories high with a steep pitched roof designed to more 
readily shed the heavy snows. Coalman who preferred guiding 
to the confinement of inn-keeping sold the business in 1914. 

55 


MOUNT HOOD 


For years Government Camp Hotel was the only lodge on the 
south side of the mountain. From it were made the first 
ascents of the southern slope of the mountain. The hotel was 
destroyed by fire in October 1933. 

Barlow Monument, 56.1 m., commemorates Samuel K. 
Barlow and his wife. Declaring that God never made a moun¬ 
tain without leaving some place to go over it, he and his com¬ 
panions sought out a way to cross the Cascades and thus shun 
the perilous boat trip down the Columbia River from The 
Dalles. 

Summit Guard Station, 56.6 m., is the forest ranger station 
for the Government Camp area. From the guard station the 
Skyline Trail leads southward along the summit of the Cas¬ 
cades (see Hiking and Riding Tour No. 10). 

At 57 m. is a junction with a forest road. Left on this road 
to SWIM and SHERAR BURN (see Motor Tour 5). 

From TIMBERLINE LODGE JUNCTION, 58.2 m., the 
route leads over the east leg of Timberline Lodge Road to 
the timberline of Mount Hood. 

TIMBERLINE LODGE, 64 m. (6,060 alt.), is a long low 
hotel and recreational center on the south slope of the moun¬ 
tain (for rates see General Information). The lines of the great 
irregular structure harmonize with those of the peak behind it. 
The lodge is unusual in that its design, construction, and 
ornamentation are the result of the skills and passionate de¬ 
votion of many different kinds of people. Just as the building 
of a medieval cathedral became a labor of love in which each 
artist, mason, architect, glassblower, weaver, and patron en¬ 
deavored to express his religious devotion by turning wood, 
stone, flax, wool, glass, and paint into a thing of supreme 
beauty, so the WPA workers, architects, administrators, and 
sponsors endeavored to make Timberline Lodge express their 
love for their beautiful mountain. 

The individual type of architecture, called Cascadian, is an 
excellent example of the adaptation of design to use. Against 
a background of rugged beauty the building rises in an epit¬ 
ome of the over-towering peak. The hexagonal central unit 
is dominated by a huge chimney with three fireplaces in the 
main floor lounge and three more in the ground floor ski 
lounge. From it extend two wings in which are dining rooms, 
guest rooms, and dormitories. 

The interior decorations and the furniture of the lodge are 

56 


MOTOR TOURS 


motivated by the Indian, the pioneer, and nature. Figures of 
mountain creatures are carved on the newel posts of the great 
stairway. On one crouches a badger, on another a bear while 
on others are a beaver, a squirrel, an eagle and wild fowl. The 
andirons in the room fireplaces are wrought in the form of 
beavers, squirrels and other forest animals. On the walls of 
the guest rooms are water-color sketches of wild flowers and 
plants indigenous to the Mount Hood region. Draperies and 
rugs are hand-woven and of primitive design. 

Views from the lodge are superb. Immediately to the north 
looms the massive white crest of the mountain in jagged con¬ 
tours against the intense blue of the sky. Southward across a 
billowing forest of dull green lift the peaks of Mount Jeffer¬ 
son, the Three Sisters, and lesser crests. Eastward stretch the 
dun-colored uplands of the Inland Empire, while westward 
like a hazy cloud low on the horizon the Coast Range edges 
the shores of the Pacific. 


TOUR 2 

Portland—Eagle Creek—Hood River—Mount Hood—Junc¬ 
tion State 50; 112.8 m., US 30 and State 35. 

Concrete and bituminous macadam pavement. 

US 30, the Columbia River Highway, leaves PORTLAND, 
0 m. by way of Burnside Bridge and Sandy Boulevard and, 
passing through a region devoted to dairying, bulb culture 
and general farming, enters the Columbia River Gorge, which 
it follows to Hood River. Winding around the face of the 
bluffs, dipping to the margin of the river, again mounting the 
sheer wall to neighbor with the white falling water of a dozen 
cascades, the road is considered one of the most scenic high¬ 
ways in America (see OREGON: END OF THE TRAIL, 
Tour 1 ). For almost twenty-five miles it traverses the northern 
edge of the Mount Hood National Forest. 

From Eagle Creek Forest Camp, 44.2 m., the Eagle Creek 
Trail leads southward past Lost Lake to the Mount Hood 
Primitive Area. Eagle Creek Camp is one of the favorite pic¬ 
nicking spots in the Columbia Gorge Park. 

The Columbia Gorge Ranger Station, 49.8 m., is the head¬ 
quarters of the Mount Hood National Forest. This point is 

57 


MOUNT HOOD 


the northern terminus of the Oregon Skyline Trail which 
follows the backbone of the Cascade Range the entire length 
of the state. 

HOOD RIVER, 67.9 m. (100 alt., 2,757 pop.), is the north¬ 
ern gateway to the Mount Hood region. It is the seat of Hood 
River County and shipping center for a world famous fruit 
producing section. Great warehouses and canneries for pro¬ 
cessing the products of the Hood River Valley line the railroad 
tracks. A trim business district occupies the flat bottom land 
of the Columbia River while residences line the wooded 
streets along the sharply rising slopes of the valley. During 
the fruit season the population of the town is augmented by 
the many additional workers who come into the valley to 
harvest the crops. The presence of these migrants quickens 
the social and economic pace of the town and adds materially 
to its life and color. The Indians of the area called the site of 
Hood River Waucoma, the place of the cottonwoods. These 
trees grow in abundance in the vicinity and in spring the 
fuzzy down of the cottonwood blossoms are an annoyance to 
housewives. The Indians say that this fall of the cottonwood 
bloom always means the annual freshet of the Columbia River 
has passed its crest. 

Southward from Hood River State 35, which the route now 
follows, traverses the famous Hood River Valley fruit growing 
district. The altitude of the valley gradually rises toward 
Mount Hood and is hemmed in by spurs of the cascade Range 
which give it the form of an oblong bowl. The huge bowl is 
divided into two smaller bowls by BOOTH HILL, the terror 
of travelers in the early days of wagon transportation. 

MOUNT HOOD (P.O.), 81.4 m. (1,467 alt., 65 pop.), was 
so named because a magnificent view of the mountain tower¬ 
ing against the southern sky is obtained at this point. 

DIMMICK STATE PARK, 82.9 m. (camp grounds and 
tables), is a wooded area of eighteen acres. 

At 83.6 m. is a junction with a macadam road. 

Right on this road to PARKDALE, 0.3 m. (1,700 alt., 125 pop.), dis¬ 
tributing point for the upper valley and center of the fruit packing 
industry for the neighborhood. Strawberries are an important crop and 
a strawberry festival is held in early June. Although in recent years they 
have been mostly replaced by white workers, Indians from the Yakima 
and Warm Springs reservations formerly were the principal berry pickers. 
While the squaws and papooses gathered the fruit, the bucks for the most 
part slept by day and gambled or disported in tribal dances at night. 

58 


MOTOR TOURS 


Even today a few Warm Springs Indians frequent the berry fields at pick¬ 
ing time and it is no uncommon sight to see a squaw stooping along the 
rows with her small papoose strapped to her back. 

West of Parkdale to Lava Beds, 1.6 m., an area of tumbled and broken 
scoria about a half mile in width and four miles in length extending 
along the Middle Fork of Hood River. From it flow a number of fine 
springs. 

Northern entrance to MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOR¬ 
EST is at 90.9 m. Here in magnificent display is an epitome 
of the forests of Oregon. Douglas fir, hemlock, noble fir, white 
fir, yellow pine, tamarack, lodgepole pine, cedar, spruce, 
maple, alder, intermingle in a green expanse that rolls across 
ridges and canyon in almost unbroken phalanx. Undergrowth 
is almost impenetrable, rhododendron, spiraea, oceanfoam, 
and a myriad of wild flowers bloom in season. 

At 91.7 m. is a junction with the Cooper Spur road. 

Right on this road to Homestead Inn, 1 m. (3,775 alt.), a log hotel with 
adjoining log cabins ( American plan, 20 rooms). Winding up the north¬ 
west flank of the mountain the road climbs over 1,200 feet in six miles 
to a Lookout Point, 7.1 m., that affords an excellent view of the Hood 
River Valley, the Columbia River, and an extensive panorama of 
mountains. 

At 9 m. is a junction with a graveled road. 

Left on this road to Tilly Jane Forest Camp, 1.5 m. ( tables , stoves , 
etc.), focal point of the Cooper Spur skiing area. Near Tilly Jane camp 
is the base camp of the American Legion of Hood River which sponsors 
an annual climb to the summit of the mountain, usually by the Cooper 
Spur of the Sunshine route (see Ascent of the Peak). At the end of the 
Cooper Spur Road is Cloud Cap Inn, 10.5 m. (5,985 alt.), erected in 1889 
of Amabilis fir logs. Designed to harmonize with its setting of stunted 
pines, crags, and snowfields it was opened in August of that year and has 
since been operated each season from July 1 to September 15 (accommoda¬ 
tions for 30 guests). Constructed in a day when the land lying between 
the forks of Hood River and the North side timberline was wilderness, 
this lodge and the road leading to it were the earliest developments of the 
Mount Hood recreational area. James L. Langille of Hood River was in 
charge of construction with work-gangs made up principally of Chinese 
laborers. The building is anchored to the basalt spur by cables to keep 
it in place during winter storms. The inn is situated directly below the 
snout of Eliot Glacier about three miles from the summit of Mount Hood. 
From this point ascents are made to the peak of the mountain. Owners 
and builders were William S. Ladd, Portland banker, and Colonel C. E. S. 
Wood, lawyer and poet. It was designed by the architectural firm of 
Whidden and Lewis of Portland. The Inn was purchased by the U. S. 
Forest Service in 1940. 

South of the Cooper Spur Road, State 35 enters the canyon 
of the East Fork of Hood River, which it follows for several 
miles. 


59 


MOUNT HOOD 


Just south of the Polally Creek is the Polally (Ind. sandy or 
powdery) Forest Camp (R), 94.3 m., and at Trapper Creek 
crossing is the Sherwood Forest Camp (R), 96.3 m. Parallel¬ 
ing Blue Grass Ridge (R) for several miles the highway winds 
southward beside the white glacial waters of Hood River. 

One of the mysterious characters of the Mount Hood region 
was Wheelbarrow John, who appeared in the i88o’s. If he had 
any other name it was never known. He was rarely seen since 
he traveled mostly at night, at which time he was glimpsed, 
usually trundling his belongings up the East Fork of Hood 
River as far as the roads and trails would permit. It was sup¬ 
posed that he was prospecting the east side of the mountains, 
and there were times when the evidence of such an activity 
was found. The few ore exposures he left showed very low 
values, and he seemed not to tarry very long at any one spot. 
He disappeared as strangely as he came. 

At 98.3 m. is a junction with a mountain road that leads 
eastward toward Dufur and The Dalles ( see Motor Tour 8 ). 

Horse Thief Meadows (R), 99.4 m. (3,550 alt.), was named 
for an outlaw who had a cabin near by. In the summer of 
1884 a man who called himself Phillips came to Hood River 
Valley and hired Dave Cooper to aid him in the search for a 
cabin under the floor of which, he declared, there was hidden 
a cache of $25,000 in gold. He said the money had been taken 
in a stagecoach robbery near Walla Walla, Washington, a 
few years before. The search was continued for two years when 
the cabin in Horse Thief Meadows was found; but if any 
money was recovered Dave Cooper never received a share. 
The old cabin still stands and is pointed out in corroboration 
of the story. 

Robin Hood Forest Camp (3,560 alt.), is at 99.9 m. ( Infor¬ 
mation on trails and camps may be obtained at the Double 
Three Forest Service Station.) The Badger Lake Trail leads 
eastward toward Gumjuwac Saddle ( see Hiking and Riding 
Tour No. 16 ). 

Hood River Meadows and Forest Camp, 103.8 m. (4,480 
alt.), is on the southeast shoulder of the mountain. Almost 
surrounded by the slender spires of the pointed firs the grassy 
meadow in summer lies studded with hundreds of mountain 
blossoms of white and red and orange and blue, patterning 
the grassy expanse into a tapestry of variegated design. Right 

60 


MOTOR TOURS 


from the meadows the Cold Springs Creek trail winds north¬ 
ward along Blue Grass Ridge (see Hiking and Riding Tour 
No. 14 ). 

SAHALE FALLS (Ind. supreme) 104.4 m. (4,575 alt.), is a 
graceful cascade near the highway (R) on the headwaters of 
the East Fork of Hood River. (Drinking fountain.) It was 
named by George Holman of Portland in a contest seeking 
an appropriate name. 

From BENNETT PASS, 105.3 m. (4,670 alt.), is a magnificent 
view of the crags and glaciers of Mount Hood (R) looming 
against the sky. A mountain road leads eastward from the 
pass toward Lookout Mountain {see Motor Tour 8 ). Bennet 
Pass, although the highest point on the Mount Hood Loop, 
is not the dividing summit of the Cascade Range but of a 
spur that reaches eastward between the Hood River and White 
River drainage areas. It was named for Samuel Bennett, an 
early day Wasco County stockman. 

At 107.2 m. is the Iron Creek Forest Camp. 

White River Forest Camp, 107.5 m., is on the bank of the 
turbulent White River which heads in White River Glacier 
on the southern slope of Mount Hood. In midsummer the 
river, fed by the melting snows of the peak, often becomes a 
raging torrent of milky white glacial silt. 

At 109.2 m. is a junction with the Barlow Ridge Trail {see 
Hiking and Riding Tour No. 13 ). 

BARLOW PASS, 109.9 m. (4,158 alt.), is significant in the 
settlement of Oregon. Through this pass poured the thousands 
of pioneers eager for new homes in the green land of the 
Willamette Valley. But if it was a way of hope it was also a 
way of privation and hardship. One who experienced the 
ordeal wrote: “Some men’s hearts died within them and some 
of our women sat down by the roadside—and cried, saying 
they had abandoned all hope of ever reaching the promised 
land. I saw women with babies but a week old, toiling up the 
mountains in the burning sun, on foot, because our jaded 
teams were not able to haul them. We went down mountains 
so steep that we had to let our wagons down with ropes. 
My wife and I carried our children up muddy mountains in 
the Cascades, half a mile high and then carried the loading 
of our wagons up on our backs by piecemeal, as our cattle 
were so reduced that they were hardly able to haul up our 
empty wagon.” {See History.) 


MOUNT HOOD 


Southward from Barlow Pass leads the old immigrant road 
laid out by Samuel Kimbrough Barlow and Joel Palmer in 
1845 (see Motor Tour 7 ). 

From Buzzards Point, 110.8 m . (4,000 alt.), is an expansive 
view of mountains, forest, and meadows. In the foreground 
are Salmon River and Summit Meadows with the tree-clad 
Cascade Range stretching away to the horizon culminating 
southward in Mount Jefferson and northward in the tall 
white majesty of Mount Hood. 

At 111.8 m. is a grave marked simply “In Memory of a 
Pioneer Woman of 1845.” The original burial place was in 
the center of the highway. When the highway was put through, 
the grave was removed to its present site. It is of a mother 
who had almost attained to the dreamed-of country when 
stricken at the gate. Her husband made a coffin from a wagon 
box, the iron parts of which were found by the road con¬ 
struction crew. 

At 112.8 m. is a junction with State 50, the Wapinitia High¬ 
way (see Motor Tour 3 ). 


TOUR 3 

Junction State 23—Bear Springs—Blue Box Summit—Junc¬ 
tion Timberline Lodge Road; 40.8 m., State 50, The Wapi¬ 
nitia Highway. 

Bituminous paved roadbed. 

The Wapinitia Highway is the main entrance from central 
Oregon into the Mount Hood Recreation Area. Crossing a 
high and arid Juniper Flat studded with scraggly growths of 
juniper, sagebrush and stunted pines, the road enters the 
Ponderosa pine belt which it traverses for many miles to a 
junction with the Mount Hood Loop Road on the south 
slopes of the mountain. The first part of the route passes 
through the region formerly claimed by the Tygh Indians 
(see History). The area, devoted principally to stock raising, 
is settled sparsely. 

From a junction with State 23, 0 m., three miles west of 
Maupin, State 50 enters Juniper Flat. 

At 7.4 m. is a junction with a dirt road. 

Left on this road to WAPINITIA, 1 m. (2,023 alt., 35 pop.), a small 
dry-land village, and into the WARM SPRINGS INDIAN RESERVA- 

62 


MOTOR TOURS 


TION, 4 m. The reservation of 300,000 acres was set aside by the Federal 
government in 1855. Through treaties negotiated by General Joel Palmer, 
superintendent of Indian affairs, members of the Tenino, Wasco, and 
Piute tribes were placed here. The reservation was named for the Warm 
Springs River which was named for the many warm springs on its banks. 
The population of the reservation is 992. The Federal government main¬ 
tains a boarding school for the Indian children. A small public school is 
maintained for the children of white employees of the agency. 

SIMNASHO (Ind. cor. Simnassa, thorn bush), 12.7 m. (2,357 2 5 

pop.), is a center of Indian activity on the reservation. These activities 
include the annual root festival in the spring when the roots become 
edible. This occurs about the time of Easter but is a tribal celebration. 
A like event is the berry or harvest festival held after the huckleberry 
crop is gathered. Tribal dances are also given occasionally, when many 
beautiful costumes are displayed. 

WARM SPRINGS, 32.8 m. (1,535 alt*, 5 ° P°P-)» administrative head¬ 
quarters for the reservation. (No public accommodations at the agency. 
Visitors welcome and may secure meals at the Government Employees’ 
Club. No liquor allowed on the reservation .) 

West of the junction State 50 leaves the sagebrush uplands 
and enters the belt of yellow or Ponderosa pine characteristic 
of the eastern slope of the Cascade Range. However, toward 
the summit the open stands of the huge russet-boled Pon¬ 
derosa give place to the denser growths of fir and hemlock. 

THE MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST is entered 
at 18 m. At Bear Springs, 21.8 m., is an improved forest camp. 

Left from Bear Springs a dirt road leads southward into the Warm 
Springs Reservation, 4.7 m., and past HE HE BUTTE, 12.5 m., where 
there is an Agency sawmill. 

At 26.9 m. is a junction with a dirt road. 

Left from this junction over a forest road to a junction with the Sky¬ 
line Road, 5.5 m. (see Motor Tour 6). 

At BLUE BOX JUNCTION, 32.9 m. ( 3,750 alt.), is an 
intersection with the Skyline Road (see Motor Tour 6). 

Blue Box Summit, 34 m. ( 4,024 alt.), is the highest point 
on the route. 

FROG LAKE (R), 34.7 m. ( 3,872 alt.), is a small scenic lake 
nestled among evergreen forests. Here is the Frog Lake 
Forest Camp. 

Right from Frog Lake to the Frog Lake Buttes Lookout, 3 m. (5,342 
alt.). 

63 


MOUNT HOOD 


WAPINITIA PASS, 35.2 m. (3,931 alt.), is the dividing ridge 
of the Cascades. 

Passing through a heavily forested area State 50 traverses 
the SALMON RIVER MEADOWS and crosses the EAST 
FORK OF SALMON RIVER, 39.5 m., and the WEST FORK, 
39.7 m., to a junction with State 35, 40 m., (R) a part of the 
Mount Hood Loop Highway (see Motor Tour 2 ). 

West of this junction State 50 leads along the south base of 
Mount Hood. At 40.8 m. is the junction with the east TIM¬ 
BERLINE LODGE ROAD (see Motor Tour 1 ). 


TOUR 4 

Zigzag Ranger Station—Old Maid Flat—Clear Fork Guard 
Station; 4.4 m.. Clear Creek Road. 

Dirt road; some grades. 

The Clear Creek Road winds northward from ZIGZAG 
RANGER STATION, 0 m. into the Bull Run Reserve. Up a 
gradual grade the road climbs through an area of summer 
homes, one of the best developed sites of the Mount Hood 
area. 

At 0.2 m. is the Zigzag CCC Camp (R) and at 0.6 m. the 
entrance to the MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST. 
Clear Creek Forest Ca>ip, 1.8 rrt. (1,600 alt.), is picturesquely 
situated among evergreens. 

As the road mounts along the valley between the Sandy 
River and Clear Creek frequent glimpses of Mount Hood may 
be caught between the towering eastward peaks of ZIGZAG 
and SLIDE MOUNTAINS. Ahead loom SUGARLOAF and 
NORTH MOUNTAINS. Although much of the adjacent 
territory is eroded and seamed with crags, scattered forest 
growth prevails. 

At 3.1 m. is a junction with a side road. 

Left on this road along the course of Clear Creek to the entrance of 
the BULL RUN RESERVE (closed to the public), 2.4 m. (2475 alt.) an 
area about the headwaters of Bull Run River for the protection of the 
Portland water supply. BURNT PEAK rises loftily ahead. 

Winding eastward across OLD MAID FLAT, 3.3 m., the 
road follows the north bank of the Sandy River to the Clear 

64 


MOTOR TOURS 

Fork Guard Station, 4.4 m. (1,950 alt.), at the edge of Bull 
Run Reserve. 


TOUR 5 

Junction State 50—Sherar Burn—Kinzel Lake; 8 m., Sherar 
Burn Road. 

Dirt road; some steep grades. 

Sherar Burn Road leaves the Mount Hood Loop Highway 
(State 50) 0 m. just east of Government Camp near the Sum¬ 
mit Guard Station and curves southwestward around Mul- 
torpor Mountain through a rugged region of forests and 
tumbled peaks. 

SWIM, 0.3 m., is a small resort at the east base of Multorpor 
Mountain. 

Near Swim is the Still Creek Forest Camp, 0.5 m. (3,760 
alt.). 

SUMMIT MEADOWS, 1.5 m. (3,650 alt.), is the site of the 
first tavern on this section of the old Barlow Road. In 1868 
Perry Vickers built a cabin and trading post which he called 
Summit House. For many years it was a convenient stopping 
place; the keeper often assisting and housing “movers” with¬ 
out pay. As a member of the posse pursuing a bandit Vickers 
was killed in 1883 at the White River Crossing a few miles 
to the east. After Vickers* tragic slaying Horace Campbell, a 
religious eccentric nicknamed “King David,” rebuilt the 
Summit House and constructed in the rear a building in the 
form of an Indian teepee, conical in shape with a central 
fireplace and a “smoke-hole” at the peak. Near the site of the 
old Summit House is a small graveyard where Vickers and 
travelers who died en route through the Cascades lie buried. 
Beside Vickers in the cemetery is the grave of a small child, 
the infant son of “W. and L. Barclay” who died at the age of 
two months at the Meadows in 1882. 

Southwest of Summit Meadows the Forest Service road 
passes through scattered reproduction of Alpine hemlock, 
Douglas fir, noble fir, and Western red cedar and Alaska 
cedar. 

At 3 m. the road skirts EUREKA BUTTE (R) and at 3.7 m. 
VEDA BUTTE (R). 

65 


MOUNT HOOD 


Fir Tree Forest Camp, 3.8 m., is at the head of the small 
but turbulent Fir Tree Creek. 

Right from Fir Tree Forest Camp a trail leads to lovely VEDA LAKE, 
1.2 m. (camp grounds). 

At 4 m. the SHERAR BURN is entered. Rhododendron, 
chinquapin, squaw grass, tiger lily and many other flowers 
make masses of color in season. Beginning at 4.5 m. the road 
follows a jagged ridge with an average altitude of 4,000 feet. 
Mount Hood continuously in view along the northern skyline. 

KINZEL LAKE, 8 m. (4,300 alt.), is a small blue medallion 
nestled among the evergreen forest at the foot of Devils Peak. 
On the shore of the lake is Kinzel Lake Forest Camp. 

Right from Kinzel Lake to the Devils Peak Lookout Station, 1.5 m. 
(5,054 alt.) from which is obtained a magnificent view of Mount Hood and 
the surrounding mountains. 


TOUR 6 

Blue Box Junction—Clackamas Lake—Warm Springs Meadow 
—Lemiti Butte—Olallie Meadows—Olallie Lake; 35.5 m.. 
The Skyline Road. 

Graded summer road. 

This summer motor route (open July 15 to October 1) winds 
along the crest of the Cascade Range, crossing and recrossing 
the divide, in close proximity to the Oregon Skyline or Pacific 
Crest Trail. From its junction with State 50 at BLUE BOX 
JUNCTION, 0 m. (3,750 alt.), the Skyline Road winds through 
Alpine forests past CLEAR LAKE BUTTE (R) (4,440 alt.), 
and NORTH GATE, 3.8 m. (Guard Station). Here the Forest 
Service maintains a gate and watchmen to insure that travelers 
do not use the road until sufficiently dry in summer to insure 
safe travel. 

BIG MEADOWS, 8 m., is one of the numerous upland 
prairies wedged between walls of blue-green forests on the 
west slope of the Cascades. Near CLACKAMAS LAKE, 8.3 m. 
(3,337 alt.), is the Clackamas Lake Ranger Station and 
Clackamas Lake Forest Camp. 

At 14 m. the road recrosses the rugged summit of the Cas- 

66 


MOTOR TOURS 


cades to the east side. South of WARM SPRINGS MEADOW, 
20.2 m. ( shelters ) the road crosses once more to the west side 
and weaves through alternate stretches of meadow land and 
forest. PEA VINE MOUNTAIN, 23 m. (4,893 alt.) rises 
abruptly ahead with PINHEAD BUTTE, 24.2 m. (L), over¬ 
shadowing the route. 

LEMITI BUTTE, 27.7 m., crowds the road to the east 
while SISI BUTTE (5,614 alt.), is high on the western skyline. 
In this region deer and bear walk boldly from the forests 
that margin the meadowlands. Beavers are occasionally seen 
in the icy creeks that meander through the harsh grasses. 

From beautiful OLALLIE MEADOWS, 31.4 m., and the 
Olallie Meadows Forest Camp, the motor road runs south¬ 
ward and skirting the western foot of OLALLIE BUTTE 
(7,210 alt.), enters a region of a hundred lakes that lie scat¬ 
tered on both sides of the Cascade divide. At the crest of the 
range is OLALLIE LAKE, 35.5 m., the largest of these lakes 
and the center of the Olallie Lake Recreational Area, the 
southernmost in the Mount Hood Forest. Swimming, fishing 
and boating are available to the vacationist ( cabins, supplies, 
saddle horses, boats). 

From this point roads and trails lead southward into the 
Willamette National Forest and the Mount Jefferson Primi¬ 
tive Area. 


TOUR 7 

Barlow Pass—White River Crossing—Bonney Meadow—Junc¬ 
tion Bennett Pass Road; 18.5 m., old Barlow Road—Bonney 
Butte Road. 

Dirt surface mountain road; some steep grades. 

Branching southward from the Mount Hood Loop High¬ 
way (State 35) at BARLOW PASS, 0 m. (4,155 alt.), the old 
Barlow Road winds southward around the western shoulder 
of BARLOW BUTTE, 0.5 m. (5,035 alt.), and for a distance 
of eleven miles closely parallels Barlow Creek. Over this trail, 
blazed in 1845 by Samuel Barlow and his wagon train poured 
an unending stream of pioneers eager to reach the green lands 
of the Willamette Valley. The DEVIL’S HALF ACRE, 1.5 m., 

67 


MOUNT HOOD 


is a meadow marsh profuse with such Alpine flowers as the 
marsh marigold, buttercup, Indian paint brush, yellow musk, 
and blue erigerons. Here also are a number of dams con¬ 
structed by the energetic beaver. Close by is the Devil’s Half 
Acre Forest Camp. 

From the Devil’s Half Acre a Forest Service fire road leads southwest 
to the Bear Springs Forest Camp, 7 m., on the Wapinitia Highway {see 
Motor Tour 3 ). This affords an attractive loop trip return to Government 
Camp. 

White River Crossing Forest Camp, 9.5 m., is at the point 
where the old Barlow Road crosses the turbulent milky 
waters of White River, one of the difficult spots on the trail. 

At 10.5 m. is a junction with the Bonney Butte Forest 
Service road. From this point the old Barlow Road leads east¬ 
ward down the valley of White River to TYGH VALLEY and 
the Dalles-California Highway (State 23). 

Northward from the junction the Bonney Butte Road winds 
along the east slope of Bonney Butte Ridge to BONNEY 
MEADOWS, 17 m. at the foot of BONNEY BUTTE (5,593 
alt.). At the edge of Bonney Meadows is Boulder Lake 
Forest Camp on the shores of a small mountain lake. Just 
north of the lake is a large mountain known as CRANE 
PRAIRIE. 

At 17.5 m. is a rough mountain road. 

Left over this road to Bonney Butte Lookout Station, 0.5 m. The 
road, although steep and over rubble, is safe and the lookout station 
affords a splendid view of the surrounding country. Southward across the 
deep White River Canyon several major peaks of the Cascade Range are 
visible. To the northwest looms Mount Hood, gigantic and deceptively 
near. Eastward the great interior wheatlands stretch out into a giant 
checkerboard such as the mythical Paul Bunyan might have used to while 
away his leisure hours. 

North of Bonney Butte the road passes through a somewhat 
open country with scattering forests of balsam fir, hemlock, 
and spruce. Beside the road bloom many Alpine flowers, 
especially the St. John’s wort. Numerous birds and small 
animals are often seen along the route. 

At 18.5 m. is a junction with a fire road leading to Lookout 
Mountain (see Motor Tour 8). 

68 


MOTOR TOURS 


TOUR 8 

Bennett Pass—Gunsight Butte—Gumjuwac Saddle—Junction 
Dufur Road—Junction State 36; 19 m. Lookout Mountain 
Road—Dufur Road. 

Mountain road; winding, some steep grades. 

Branching eastward from BENNETT PASS, 0 m. (4,670 
alt.), on the Mount Hood Loop Highway (State 35), the Look¬ 
out Mountain Road leads through a forested area of balsam 
fir, mountain hemlock, and Alaska spruce. At 3 m. the coun¬ 
try becomes more open and many Alpine flowers, principally 
St. John’s wort, bloom beside the way. 

At 4 m. is a junction with the Bonney Butte Road (see 
Motor Tour 7 ). Northward from the junction the Lookout 
Mountain road leads through an open range country along a 
sharp ridge. Stands of Ponderosa pine, spruce and fir are 
traversed. Deer, bear, rabbits and grouse may often be seen in 
passing. Luxuriant growths of mountain flowers; blue erige- 
rons or asters, Indian paint brush, pentstemon, and many 
others color the ground in season. 

At 6 m. the highway crosses the trail to BADGER LAKE 
(see Hiking and Riding Tour No. 14 ). 

At 8 m. the road crosses GUNSIGHT BUTTE (5,990 alt.), 
and at 9.5 m. passes through GUMJUWAC SADDLE (5,730 
alt.). In this area are encountered pure stands of western 
larch, a characteristic timber of the east slopes of the Cascades. 

At 11 m. is the junction with a dirt road. 

Right on this road to the summit of LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, 1 m. 
(6,525 alt.), where the Forest Service maintains a lookout. This peak com¬ 
mands a view of seven snow capped mountains. Close by to the west is 
Mount Hood while northward across the Columbia River in Washington 
are Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier. Southward 
along the Cascades are Mount Jefferson, Mount Washington, and the 
Three Sisters. 

From the base of Lookout Mountain the road runs almost 
due north along the hogback of a sharp ridge to a junction 
with the Dufur Road at 15 m. Left on the Dufur Road to the 
Mount Hood Loop Highway (State 35) at 19 m., a mile south 
of Sherwood Forest Camp (see Motor Tour 2 ). 


69 


Hiking and Riding Trails 

TOUR 1 


Welches—Salmon River Guard Station—Linney Creek Forest 
Camp; 12 m.. The Salmon River Trail. 

The Salmon River Trail parallels Salmon River through 
a deep canyon shaded by forests of Douglas fir. Western red 
cedar, white fir, bigleaf maple, alder, and western yew. Shrubs 
and flowers are not plentiful except on side trails into more 
open country, but tiger lilies, bleeding hearts, columbines and 
other common species thrive in season. 

The route, leaving State 50, 0 m., follows the Welches Road 
past TAWNEY’S, 7 m., to a gate into the MOUNT HOOD 
NATIONAL FOREST, 2.1 m. At this end of the road, 2.5 m., 
the Salmon River Trail leads left. At 3.5 m. is the lower 
Salmon River Forest Camp (picnic facilities). Swimming in 
the “Big Hole,” half a mile above the camp, is available to 
those who enjoy a cold plunge. The Salmon River Guard 
Station, 5 m., issues campfire permits and maintains a camp 
ground nearby. 

Leaving the Guard Station, the trail swings around the side 
of a steep rocky bluff a hundred or more feet above the river. 
The trail drops down to the level of the river at 5.9 m. and at 
6 m. (R) crosses over foot log to Island Camp. 

At 7.1 m. is the Rolling Riffle Forest Camp and the 
Bighorn Forest Camp (shelter cabin, camping facilities) is 
at 7.4 m. 

The river now enters a deep gorge and the trail climbs 
along the hillside. Maidenhair fern is abundant. At 9.5 m. the 
route breaks out of the timber onto a rocky knoll. From this 
vantage point there is a splendid view of the deep gorge (R) 
and the forest-clad hills to the south. The trail continues 
through open country to Linney Creek Forest Camp at the 
confluence of Salmon River and Linney Creek. 

70 


HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 


TOUR 2 

Rhododendron—Tollgate—Laurel Hill—Government Camp; 
11.5 m.. Pioneer Bridle Path. 

Easy grades and a broad trailway make the Pioneer Bridle 
Path a popular route for the horseback recreationist who 
wishes to remain near to the highway at all times. From 
RHODODENDRON at Vine Maple Road, 0 m the trail 
climbs eastward, paralleling Camp Creek (R), to the Toll- 
gate Forest Camp (L). From there on its way is between the 
Loop Highway on the L. and the creek. At 0.5 m. is the Site 
of the Old Tollgate House. Within the first mile three 
streams are bridged. A rocky area is traversed at 1.2 m. 

Beyond a new bridge, 1.5 m., the trail penetrates the brushy, 
young forest of vine maple, alder, and Douglas fir that is 
typical of this area. At 2.4 m. is a summer home road and 
2.7 m. is (R) Camp Creek Camp (shelter). The “Bridle Path 
Caves,” 3.2 m., is so named for the density of the timber at 
this point. 

The Bridle Path, using portions of the old Barlow Road, 
climbs through an alder and maple slashing, 5.2 ra., and at 
6.4 m. mounts a rocky ledge, with Camp Creek brawling 
noisily far below (R). An old gold mine shaft, 6.5 m. f is a re¬ 
minder of early and unprofitable attempts at mining. 

At the Barlow Forest Camp the Pioneer Bridle Path 
Under-pass, 7.1 m. dips under the Loop Highway at its turn 
around and over Laurel Hill (R), the grade of great hardships, 
down which at its highest point the pioneers came on their 
way into western Oregon. Up to this point portions of the 
trail are miry until midsummer, but the entire route is always 
negotiable by the mounted traveler. 

The trail mounts to the Laurel Hill Ridgeway that sepa¬ 
rates the highway from the Little Zigzag Canyon (L). 
Picturesque view points, looking both north and south, are 
afforded. The Bridle Path, which runs generally parallel with 
the highway and to the north of that artery, again approaches 
it closely and at 9.3 m. joins it. The path continues beside 
the road (L) through wind-bitten shrubs and scattered clusters 
of evergreens to Government Camp, 11.5 m. 

7 1 


MOUNT HOOD 


TOUR 3 

Rhododendron—Lookout Cabin—Old Barlow Road—Zigzag 
Ranger Station; 10.5 m.. West Zigzag Mountain Trail. 

This route, with an unobstructed mountain view for 80 per 
cent of its distance, follows Henry Creek Avenue (one half 
mile east of Rhododendron), 0 m., to the junction point of 
Rhododendron Way, 0.5 m., which bears northeast. The trail 
climbs through a heavy forest of deciduous trees, among them 
being vine maples, and red alders. Pheasants and chipmunks 
are commonly seen. At 1 m. the trail emerges from the timber. 

Two fires have burned over Zigzag’s rocky south side in the 
past twenty-five years, leaving many bleached tree skeletons. 
In this open area flowers and shrubs have since flourished. 
Squaw grass and ocean spray intermingle with red huckle¬ 
berry and chinquapin. This is a steep area and for the first 
three miles the trail climbs steadily, but is readily traveled by 
the average hiker. 

At 1.6 m. seen eastward across the valley of the Zigzag River 
(R), appear the odd-shaped Castle Rocks. Drinking water 
may be obtained from springs at 2 m. and 2.4 m. 

There is a short cut (L) at 2.4 m. up to the west Zigzag 
Lookout Station, but the trail proper intersects (L) at 3 m., 
where the phone line crosses and Zigzag Way becomes the trail 
route. Mount Hood stands plainly to view in the northeast. 
Douglas firs, Western hemlocks, lodgepole and white pines, 
and noble firs are scattered along these higher levels. The trail 
proceeds at easy grades. The white caps of the Cascades— 
Rainier, St. Helens, Adams, Hood and Jefferson—are all visi¬ 
ble from WEST ZIGZAG MOUNTAIN (4,500 alt.). Lookout 
Cabin, 3.7 m., on a day of clear visibility. This emergency 
Lookout Station is occupied only in extremely hazardous fire 
weather. (Visitors will please refrain from disturbing any 
Government property.) Cliff swallows, hummingbirds, red 
shafted flickers, and j uncos seen here seldom rise above this 
altitude. 

At 5.1 m., near old Snag Camp, rhododendrons and squaw 
grass are especially bountiful from June 10 to August 1. 
Columbine, tiger lily, phlox, gentian, snowberry, and many 
other flowers grow profusely here. A spring provides drinking 
water. At 7.3 m. is another spring. 

72 


HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 

The Zigzag Mountain Trail drops down the west slope to 
the Zigzag River Road, 9.6 ra., which it follows (L) to the 
Truman Road, 10.3 m. The route emerges at the Loop High¬ 
way (State 50) at Zigzag, 10.5 m ., in a rocky area just east of 
the river’s confluence with the Sandy River. Salal, manzanita, 
elderberry, and vine maple are overshadowed by the com¬ 
moner evergreens and big leaf maples. 


TOUR 4 

Junction State 50—Devils Canyon—East Zigzag Mountain— 
Paradise Park; 10 m., East Zigzag Road and Trail. 

Leaving the Loop Highway (State 50), 0 ra., over the Enola 
Hill Road, this hiking or riding route proceeds to the Zigzag 
Mountain Road, 1.4 m ., which winds abruptly east and north 
to a terminus in Devils Canyon, 3.4 ra. 

Devils Canyon Viewpoint (3,050 alt.), affords a splendid 
view of Devils Creek Falls (east), the tip of Mount Hood 
(northeast), and Devils Peak (south). The canyon of the Zig¬ 
zag River, picturesque and deeply evergreen, sweeps eastward 
to distant Barlow Camp on the highway. 

Here the Zigzag Trail begins, climbing along the high east 
side bench of EAST ZIGZAG MOUNTAIN, 6.2 ra. A fire 
lookout stands on the summit. 

Mounting by easy grades and wide curves the trail pene¬ 
trates the high rocky shoulder (4,970 alt.), from which it 
descends into open country, scattered over with small forest 
growth. Below, to the east, flow the narrow waters of LADY 
CREEK (R) and the deep-gorged and more tumultuous ZIG¬ 
ZAG RIVER. 

The route, again mounting, follows up the ridgeway be¬ 
tween the upper Zigzag River (R) and LOST CREEK (L), 
both of which are formed by the melting snows of Zigzag 
Glacier. Mount Hood’s white summit stands perpetually be¬ 
fore the traveler’s sight. 

Entering the MOUNT HOOD PRIMITIVE AREA, 9.5 ra., 
the Zigzag Trail climbs into lovely Paradise Park, 10 ra. (see 
Paradise Park Trail). The Stadter Buried Forest lies above 
on the mountain slope (see sign). 

From Zigzag Mountain to Paradise Park this route is through 

73 


MOUNT HOOD 


the Bull Run Reserve and must be traversed with the utmost 
care and regard for cleanliness and fire prevention. Secure fire 
permit before entering area. The trail is closed in seasons of 
extreme fire danger. 


TOUR 5 

Camp Creek Forest Camp—Still Creek Guard Station—Still 
Creek Forest Camp; 8.1 m., Still Creek Trail. 

Still Creek Trail traverses a widely varying section that 
amply serves the pleasures of the hiker, equestrian, overnight 
camper, fisherman, and the student of plant and wild life. 
The major portion of the route parallels Still Creek and pene¬ 
trates forested areas and open spaces. Good drinking water 
is plentiful along the way. Numerous clearings provide ample 
feeding grounds for saddle horses. 

From CAMP CREEK CAMP, 0 m., the trail climbs the 
forested grade southward, and Flag Mountain Saddle at 
1.3 m. At 1.7 m. is a view (R) of a huge Monolith and the 
cliffs of HUNCHBACK MOUNTAIN to the south. 

The route continues through forests of Douglas fir, western 
red cedar, hemlock, white pine, alder and maple interspersed 
with shrubs of elderberry, salmonberry, vine maple and salal. 
In the more open glades grow such flowers as bleeding heart, 
trillium, and lupine. 

At 3 m. is a small stream (good drinking water) and the 
Still Creek Guard Station ( unoccupied , except in emer¬ 
gencies). The trail then descends to the level of the creek and 
enters open country. Huckleberry, chinquapin, and rhodo¬ 
dendron bushes border the trail. Indian paintbrush, tiger 
lilies, and star flowers are plentiful. Chipmunks are every¬ 
where. As the route leaves the forests it leaves also the bird 
life. The varied thrush, blue jay, red-breasted nuthatch, and 
western wren prefer the more wooded areas. 

Still Creek is forded at 4.5 m. and again 5.1 m. For the next 
mile the route traverses a barren, rocky slope. Visible to the 
north is Tom-Dick-Harry Mountain, to the northeast is Mul- 
torpor Hill, to the south is Eureka Peak, and to the southwest 
is Devil’s Peak. 

At 5.8 m. the trail enters the Still Creek Planting and 
proceeds through this young plantation of forest trees. Leav- 

74 


HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 


ing the plantation at 6.8 m., the Still Creek Trail crosses Still 
Creek, 6.9 m. Here the trail re-enters the old growth timber 
and continues to an intersection with the Shearer Burn Road 
at Summit Meadows, 8.1 m. and the Still Creek Forest 
Camp. 


TOUR 6 

Twin Bridges—Paradise Park; 6 m., Paradise Park Trail. 

This well-maintained, two-foot trail of easy grade mounts 
to the northeast from the TWIN BRIDGES FOREST CAMP 
on State 50, 0 m., and for the first mile switches sharply back 
and forth along EAST ZIGZAG MOUNTAIN above the 
ZIGZAG RIVER (L). At 0.9 m. is a good view to the south 
of the mountains Tom-Dick-Harry, Hunchback, Flag, and 
Multorpor, and of the Loop Highway at the Laurel Hill turn. 

At 1 m. the trail penetrates a closely forested area of second 
growth Douglas fir, western red cedar, western hemlock, west¬ 
ern white pine, and mountain alder, with such shrubs as 
mountain ash, chinquapin, rhododendron, vine maple, and 
Oregon grape in frequent evidence. Flowers and herbs are 
Indian paintbrush, dwarf dogwood. Mount Hood lily, blue 
pentstemon, squaw grass, and many others. 

At 2.8 m. Mount Hood comes to view. The trail, still fol¬ 
lowing the north side of the Zigzag Canyon with the white 
ribbon of the river far below, climbs to a Viewpoint at 2.5 m., 
from which the Little Zigzag Canyon can be seen to the east. 
The Paradise Trail crosses a blow-down area of old fires, 
3.8 m.j and at 3.9 m. reaches a small creek (< drinking water). 

At 4 m. the trail enters a fine stand of mountain hemlock. 
At this altitude snow lies on the ground until late in the 
season, obscuring the trail, but is normally gone by July 15. 
Such wild flowers as wild heliotrope, lamb’s-tongue, butter¬ 
cups, and Indian paintbrush spring into brilliant bloom beside 
great banks of late-lingering snow. 

PARADISE PARK, 6 m. ( stoves, shelter ), in the MOUNT 
HOOD PRIMITIVE AREA, is the most beautiful of the 
natural parks, or mountain meadows, in the entire Mount 
Hood area with the exception of the more remote Eden Park 
on the north side. These open areas are vividly colored with 
alpine blooms in mid or late summer intermingled with 

75 


MOUNT HOOD 


snowwhite heads of Indian basket grass, sheltering small blue 
anemones and delicate collensia. Blue huckleberry, black cur¬ 
rant, and heather add a green touch, and dwarf hemlock, and 
scrub juniper sprawl along the ground. A few noble firs stand 
here. From the park’s high points many mountain landmarks 
can be seen on clear days. To the south are Government 
Camp, Olallie Butte, and Mount Jefferson; to the east is 
Mount Hood; to the north are Larch Mountain, Lost Lake, 
HiYu Mountain, Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier; and 
to the west are Devils Peak, Zigzag Mountain, Burnt Lake 
and, far distant Portland. 

Along this trail and in the park the songs of birds are fre¬ 
quently heard. These are the varied thrush, Oregon jay, 
northern junco, western wren, warblers, red-breasted nut¬ 
hatch, and Clark nutcracker. Pine squirrels and chipmunks 
are relatively common. 

While camping with his parents in Paradise Park in August 
1926, seven-year-old Jackie Strong became lost in the wild 
area to the west. After much wandering, during which he fed 
on huckleberries and raw trout, saw a cougar, and protected 
himself against each night’s cold by a brush lean-to, he was 
found on the fourth day just below Yocum Ridge. His res¬ 
cuers were three members of a mountaineering group called 
the Crag Rats. Two hundred men had taken to the field, in¬ 
cluding members of the Mazamas, the Trails Club, forty army 
infantrymen, Portland and state highway police and deputy 
sheriffs, and numerous individuals. The Forest Service had 
hurried food and supplies to the field camps. Not greatly 
frightened at his predicament, young Strong walked out un¬ 
harmed and confident, incredulous at the great concern over 
him. 

(Optional return routes: Timberline Trail to Timberline Lodge, 6 m., 
or Zigzag Mountain Way to Rhododendron, 10 m.). 


TOUR 7 

Barlow Forest Camp—Hidden Lake—Sand Canyon; 4.3 m, 
Hidden Lake Way. 

One of the most scenic and interesting of the mountain 
byways is the trail that mounts from the Loop Highway 

76 


HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 

(State 50), at the BARLOW FOREST CAMP, 0 m and fol¬ 
lows the ridgeway to the west of the deep, gravelly gorge of 
LITTLE ZIGZAG RIVER (L). 

Bearing to the north and east, with the summit of the moun¬ 
tain lifting ahead and visible at almost every point, this trail 
climbs through young Douglas firs, spruces, and mountain 
hemlocks to a junction with the Hidden Lake Trail, 2.1 m. 
(L), to Hidden Lake, 1 m . 

The ZIGZAG RIVER CANYON (R) deepens and narrows 
as the steep trail mounts. The grandeur of the gorge, the bold 
and impressive features of the mountain, and the sweeping 
vistas of the Cascades to the southeast compensate for the 
arduous ascent. 

As the trail reaches and passes beyond the 4,000 foot alti¬ 
tude, the prevailing evergreens are of the subalpine type, such 
as silver fir, Engelmann spruce, mountain hemlock, red cedar, 
and white pine. Birds are not common in this area but rock 
rabbits are frequently seen. 

At 2.6 m. the ascent becomes extremely steep in places but 
is eased somewhat by the conveniently laid trail. An occa¬ 
sional small mountain meadow emerges from the timber, 
which grows more open and scattered, principally in the 
watered terrains. Heather, Mount Hood lilies, and squaw 
grass grow on the more hospitable slopes. The long scar of 
Sand Canyon (R), beginning high above at timberline, con¬ 
tinues down the mountain as a shallow creek. 

The trail crosses the diminished stream of the Little Zigzag, 
4.1 m.y more than a mile below the snout of PALMER 
GLACIER whose melting snows and ice form this stream. At 
4.3 m. Sand Canyon is easily negotiable. The bold features of 
Illumination Point and Crater Rock hang almost overhead, 
and the smoking west side fumaroles are visible. If it is clear 
and bright, the brilliance of the sun on the ice fields and the 
contrasting shadows of rocks and ice fissures afford a grand and 
awesome study. 

TOUR 8 

Junction State 50—Yocum Falls—Mirror Lake; 2.1 m., Yocum 
Falls—Mirror Lake Trail. 

Mirror Lake Trail leaves the MOUNT HOOD LOOP 
HIGHWAY (State 50), 0 m. y at a point two miles west of 

77 


MOUNT HOOD 


Government Camp, almost at the crest of Laurel Hill. It 
climbs south over easy grades with Yocum Falls, 0.5 m. (R), 
far below. 

The trail mounts the north slope of TOM-DICK-HARRY 
MOUNTAIN through cedars, firs, and hemlocks, and from 
the first bench, 1.2 m., follows down the gentle west-turning 
slope to MIRROR LAKE, 2.1 m. The small but lovely lake 
gets its name from the fact that Mount Hood, standing to 
the north, reflects its majestic image on the water’s mirror¬ 
like surface. Photographs and paintings of this scene are widely 
known. 


TOUR 9 

Government Camp—Camp Blossom; 4.5 m.. Camp Blossom 
Trail. 

Camp Blossom Trail is the original route to the summit of 
Mount Hood by those using Government Camp as a base. 
During the summer months, it is a scenic and enjoyable hik¬ 
ing and riding trail to and from Timberline Lodge. In the 
winter the route becomes the Blossom Ski Trail, a run of 
considerable difficulty open to experts only. 

The first mile of the route northward from GOVERN¬ 
MENT CAMP, 0 m., is through deep avenues of large West¬ 
ern hemlock and Sitka spruce, with a scattered profusion of 
the red-berried mountain ash. At 1.5 m. an alpine forest of 
balsam fir and mountain hemlock. At 3 m. the prevailing 
evergreens are the smaller subalpine firs and pines. 

At 3.4 m. the trail turns (L) and follows up SAND CAN¬ 
YON to CAMP BLOSSOM, 4.5 m. 


TOUR 10 

Summit Ranger Station—Trillium Lake—Jackpot Meadows; 
6.3 m. The Oregon Skyline (Pacific Crest) Trail. 

From SUMMIT RANGER STATION, 0 m. y on the Mount 
Hood Loop Highway (State 50) the Oregon Skyline Trail 
leads southward around the east base of Multorpor Mountain 
through Swim and Summit Meadows (see Hiking and Riding 
Tour No. 5 ) to the south end of the Trillium Lake Recrea- 

78 


HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 


tional Project. Dropping down the ridge over easy grades and 
through small timber the trail enters a long meadow. 

At 1.8 m. is TRILLIUM LAKE (R), formerly Mud Lake, 
and one of the sources of Mud Creek (L) which courses the 
meadow’s length from north to south. 

Winding along, now high above and again at the creek’s 
edge, the trail continues steadily descending. As the valley 
broadens at 2.9 m. small mountain meadows, profusely covered 
with huckleberry growth, are divided and encircled by ever¬ 
greens, many of them large spruces and hemlocks with a 
sprinkling of lodgepole pines, Douglas and balsam firs. An old 
burn, 3.5 m. slowly greening over, stretches to the right. 
Distant peaks appear to the south. 

The trail follows the east bank of Mud Creek to its con¬ 
fluence with the SALMON RIVER, 5.3 m. At 6 m. the 
Trillium Lake Trail crosses the Linney Creek Road. 

Right on this road to Linney Creek Guard Station (see Hiking and 
Riding Tour No. 1). 

JACKPOT MEADOWS, 6.3 m., lies in the heart of the 
Cascades and in one of the region’s most scenic areas, now 
being developed by Forest Service. 

This route is a part of the old Skyline (riding) Trail that 
continues south from Jackpot Meadows, following the crest 
of the Cascades to the California line. (Inquire of forester 
before attempting the longer trail, which at several points 
offers an alternate choice of route . Unless the traveler is fa¬ 
miliar with rough mountain travel and able to care for himself 
under conditions of hardships, he should not undertake this 
trip unaccompanied by a capable guide. Riding time, 30 days.) 

TOUR 11 

Timberline Lodge—Paradise Park—Eden Park—Cloud Cap 
Inn—Timberline Lodge; 36.5 m.. Timberline or “Round the 
Mountain” Trail. 

This is Mount Hood’s most scenic and most spectacular 
trail, sections of which have been developed for travel ( afoot 
or horseback) only within the past two years. It encircles the 
white peak of Mount Hood just about timberline. 

Leaving TIMBERLINE LODGE at the junction of the 

79 


MOUNT HOOD 


Summit Trail, 0 m. (see Climbing Routes to the Summit ), 
this major trail, sometimes called the “Hat Band,” leads 
northwest across the glades and through scattered hemlocks 
and silver firs. 

One hundred yards northwest of the west wing of Timber- 
line Lodge lies the open air Timberline Theater built in 
1938 . The amphitheater which seats about 500 , extends ap¬ 
proximately north and south, with the stage situated at the 
lower, southern end of a small natural bowl. A low wall of 
rubble masonry, complementing the architecture of the Lodge 
foundation, surrounds and outlines the amphitheater. The 
seats, massive, hand-hewn logs of Douglas fir arranged in a 
quarter circle, rise in tiers, following the natural contour of 
the mountain slope. A backdrop of wild mountain scenery 
gives epic connotations to the play and to the acting. No less 
than six major peaks of the Cascade chain are visible on clear 
days: Mount Jefferson, Olallie Butte, Mount Washington, 
Three-fingered Jack, Three Sisters, and Black Butte. Curtain¬ 
ing the bases of these white draped peaks is a saucer-like rim 
of nearer foothills, green-clad and many-mooded in summer, 
but snowy-immaculate in winter. On the stage of this amphi¬ 
theater, in season, a varied program of appropriate theatrical 
entertainment is presented. 

Timberline Cabin or Camp Blossom, 0.6 m. (for use by 
mountain climbers), stands in protective timber on the east 
edge of Sand Canyon, 0.7 m. At 0.9 m., Little Zigzag Canyon 
is crossed. 

Threading the timbered heights, the route climbs past 
several springs and to impressive viewpoints from which the 
peak above and the surrounding country are visible. 

At 2.1 m. the way descends into the Zigzag Canyon, a wide 
glacial wash; numerous small streams feed the waters of the 
melting upper snows into the ZIGZAG RIVER. The crest of 
the opposite ridge is reached at 3.9 m. Here the MOUNT 
HOOD PRIMITIVE AREA is entered. 

At 4.5 m. is the junction with the Paradise Park Trail (see 
Paradise Park Trail). Crossing Lost Creek, 4.6 m a branch 
of the Sandy River, the route enters beautiful PARADISE 
PARK, 4.7 m. (stone shelter, horsefeed). This is one of the 
loveliest of all Mount Hood meadows, richly carpeted with 
flowers in season and frequently visited by hikers. Of recent 

80 


HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 


years, in winter, it has become popular with the more ardent 
and skilled skiers. Snowshoe rabbits are abundant. An ex¬ 
cellent view of Mount Hood’s white cap is presented as the 
trail leaves the park. 

SLIDE MOUNTAIN, 5.3 m., stands L. as the trail traverses 
the open ridge and descends into the upper SANDY RIVER 
GORGE, 6 m., the deepest gorge in the entire Mount Hood 
area. At 6.7 m. and 7.1 m. two viewpoints offer excellent 
scenic studies of Sandy and Reid Glaciers (R) and of several 
small waterfalls. 

At 8.9 m. the SANDY RIVER is crossed. The Muddy Forks 
Trail, 9.2 m. (L), is closed to travel, to protect the Bull Run 
Reserve. The Upper Sandy forest guard stands at this point. 

The trail now proceeds to RAMONA FALLS, 9.6 m. 
(shelter). Within the next mile two creeks are forded and at 
11.2 m. is the first of several campsites marking the scenes of 
recent activity in trail building (spring water). 

The ascent to Bald Mountain Ridge, 11.3 m., is an arduous 
but scenic stretch of the trail. At the rockslide, 12.2 m., is a 
viewpoint with a spring just beyond, at 12.3 m. The summit of 
BALD MOUNTAIN RIDGE, 12.7 m. ( 4,400 alt.), is one of 
the highest points on the trail; with a short side route (R) to 
the top of Bald Mountain, leading also to the emergency 
Lookout Station. (Campsite at trail junction; water 200 
yards L.) 

The Timberline Trail at this point curves gradually to the 
northeast and east. At 13.9 m. the Lost Lake trail (see Hiking 
and Riding Tour No. 15) leads left. Still on Bald Mountain 
Ridge, 14.3 m., a superb view of the Upper Muddy Fork of 
the Sandy River, the glaciers and the mountain’s northwest 
snowslope is presented. 

A second trail construction campsite, 15.5 m. (L), affords 
water and horsefeed. Beyond this point several small creeks 
are forded and at 16.3 m. CATHEDRAL RIDGE ( 6,935 
is crossed. 

The CAIRN BASIN, 16.8 m. (stone shelter, water and horse - 
feed, R. 200 feet) opens out into EDEN PARK, most beautiful 
of all the mountain meadows. 

In this region wild flowers burst into bloom each summer, 
almost at the edge of the retreating snows. It has been said 
by an authoritative botanist, that there are more varieties of 

81 


MOUNT HOOD 


alpine flowers in this area than in any other place in the 
world. Flowers (do not gather) generally bloom in abundance 
from early in July and through the first week of August. 
There is also a brief riot of color along this trail in early fall 
when the vegetation is first touched by frost. Game is common; 
elk, deer and bear are occasionally seen. 

Leaving Eden Park, the route three times crosses the head¬ 
waters of Ladd Creek. These high mountain streams are 
crystal clear in the early morning but on summer afternoons, 
under the melting warmth of the sun which slowly dissolves 
the glacial snow, become small roaring torrents of milky 
water. At this altitude north slopes are the most deeply wooded 
on the mountain, with lodgepole pine a common variety. 

The headwaters of Clear Creek gather in the wooded 
Wy’east Basin, 18.1 m. (horsefeed ). DOLLAR LAKE lies a 
quarter-mile to the L. at 18.6 m. ELK COVE, 19.6 m. (stone 
shelter , horsefeed), stands on the banks of Elk Creek. 

Coe Creek is crossed, 20.1 m., and the west and east 
branches of narrow Compass Creek, 21 m., with its cascades 
and waterfalls. Eliot Creek, 22.9 m., courses through the 
alpine forests from the glacier above. At this point the route 
leaves the MOUNT HOOD PRIMITIVE AREA. 

Cloud Cap Inn, 23.1 m. (R. 300 feet), amidst scattered 
alpine growth and open glades, is the well-known north side 
resort (see Motor Tour 2). Mount Adams and Mount Rainier 
loom magnificently to the north. 

At the Tilly Jane Forest Camp and Guard Station, 
23.8 m., is (L) the Hood River American Legion Camp 
(. shelter, water), also (L) is the road that winds through balsam 
timber down to the Mount Hood Loop Highway (see Motor 
Tour 2). 

Just beyond POLALLY CREEK CANYON, 24 m. (L), is 
the junction (R) with the Cooper Spur Trail, 24.7 m., to the 
white crest above (see Climbing Routes to the Summit). 

A fine view of the peak and ELIOT GLACIER appears 
(R) at 25 m., and another of LAMBERSON BUTTE SPUR 
ahead and to the left. The snowfield of NEWTON CLARK 
GLACIER gleams above at 26.6 m. as the mounting trail 
crosses LAMBERSON BUTTE ( 6,700 alt.). At the Butte’s 
Crest, Gnarl Ridge, 27 m. (stone shelter, water 300 feet), 
affords a fine example of the struggle of trees at timberline. 
Horsefeed is obtainable at 27.6 m. 

82 


HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 

Newton Creek, 29.3 m. ( campsite, water), a stream of 
melted snow, tumbles down from Newton Clark Glacier. 

The Timberline Trail now curves gradually to the south¬ 
west where it crosses Clark Creek, 30.5 m. Pencil Falls, 
30.7 m on a branch of Heather Creek, comes into view. Good 
shaded campsites (horsefeed) are available at 31.1 m. and 
32.1 m. At 32.7 m. is a side trail. 

Left on this trail to HOOD RIVER MEADOWS (see Motor Tour 2), 
which sweeps down the east slope to the Loop Highway. Umbrella Falls, 
1 m., on this side route is made by the cascading waters of the EAST 
FORK OF THE HOOD RIVER. 

Crooking around the south side of the mountain over a 
broken terrain, the trail turns directly west and crosses the 
glaciated wash of WHITE RIVER, 34.3 m., at this altitude, 
a narrow chalky stream. At 36 m. is the MIDDLE FORK OF 
THE SALMON RIVER. 

The trail arcs to the southwest and descends through silver 
firs to its point of origin just west of TIMBERLINE LODGE, 
36.5 m. 

TOUR 12 

Barlow Pass—Butte Springs—Blue Box Summit; i i m. Barlow 
Ridge Trail. 

From the Mount Hood Loop Highway (State 35 ) at BAR- 
LOW PASS, 0 m., the Ridge Trail winds due east, down the 
beautiful WHITE RIVER CANYON through tall Balsam 
firs and mountain hemlocks. At times it follows almost at the 
stream’s edge and again high above. Turning southeast it 
rounds the east shoulder of BARLOW BUTTE, 1 m. ( 5,035 
alt.). In Devils Half Acre, 1.6 m., a marshy meadow in mid¬ 
summer beautiful with alpine flowers, there are a number of 
beaver dams—one of the few remaining areas in the state 
where the industrial handiwork of these nearly extinct water 
animals can be studied. A deforested burn extends for some 
distance southward. 

The trail, high on the ridgeway that divides the White River 
(L) from Barlow Creek (R), follows south through a patch of 
small Douglas firs. At 3.6 m. it rounds to the east of BARLOW 
BUTTE ( 5,158 alt.), and penetrates the deep, silent forests 
of hemlock, larch, and spruce, scattered through with an 

83 


MOUNT HOOD 


occasional lodgepole pine. The Balsam firs—noble, silver, and 
white—comprise over 50 per cent of the trees in this area on 
the east slope of the Cascades. 

The noisy sound of White River’s brawling waters is dis- 
tinguishable (L) at 4.7 m. Dropping down to the Old Barlow 
Road, 5.4 m., the trail follows into the deep timber. 

The course is now southwest. At 6 m. Barlow Creek is 
crossed. The climbing trail follows the south slopes of FROG 
LAKE BUTTE, its summit topped by a Fire Lookout station 
glimpsed through the firs (R). The trail, reaching its highest 
point, 7.2 m., drops down into the creek-bed of Green Lake 
Creek, 7.9 m. 

Butte Springs, 8.6 m., is the source of one of the region’s 
numerous creeks. 

Barlow Ridge Trail, swinging south through a region of 
wild game and great isolation, crosses Frog Creek at 10.3 m. 
and at 10.6 m. reaches the Abbott Road. Turning north along 
this rutted roadway, now seldom used, the route soon inter¬ 
sects with the Wapinitia Highway (State 50 ), 11 m., just south 
of the BLUE BOX SUMMIT. 

TOUR 13 

Hood River Meadows—Elk Meadows—Junction Cooper Spur 
Road; 10 m. Hood River Meadows—Cold Springs Creek Trail. 

This trail intersects with the Mount Hood Loop Highway 
(State 35 ) at HOOD RIVER MEADOWS FOREST CAMP, 
0 m., two miles north of Bennett Pass. From this grassy area 
of wide perspectives, on the lower east slope of the mountain, 
the trail rises sharply. Crossing Clark Creek, 1 m., it mounts 
to the ridge crest, 2 m., which it descends rapidly to Newton 
Creek, 2.5 m . ELK MOUNTAIN ( 5,681 alt.) lifts immediately 
to the east. 

The trail, climbing from the deeply wooded creek bed, 
enters beautiful ELK MEADOWS, 3.5 m ., an area of luxuriant 
growth that once was a favorite feeding ground of the elk, 
formerly native here in great numbers. To the east the tim¬ 
bered benches fall away into flat meadow land, while to the 
west, mounting above timberline, is Mount Hood’s white 
summit. 

Leaving Elk Meadows, in summer rich with alpine bloom 

84 


HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 


and visited by the songbirds of high altitudes, the trail winds 
northward along Cold Springs Creek to a junction with the 
Cooper Spur Road at Homestead Inn, 10 m. (see Motor 
Tour 2). 


TOUR 14 

Robin Hood Forest Camp—Gumjuwac Saddle—Badger Lake; 
5.5 m.. Badger Lake Trail. 

From the ROBIN HOOD FOREST CAMP and RANGER 
STATION on (State 35 ), 0 m., this trail climbs due east by a 
series of right and left turns to Gumjuwac Saddle, 2.5 m. The 
climb is steep, through broken terrain and small forest growth 
with scattered huckleberry, wild lilac, and fern. 

Turning almost due south at the saddle or pass, the trail 
follows along the ridgeway. It rounds the crest of GUNSIGHT 
BUTTE, 3.5 m. (L), and drops down a long slope to the ever¬ 
green wooded shores of BADGER LAKE, 5.5 m. ( 4,436 alt.). 
This lovely mountain gem nestles at the foot (L) of BADGER 
BUTTE ( 5,992 alt.). The Badger Lake Forest Camp (shelter, 
guard station) makes this an ideal vacation site (see Motor 
Tour 8). 


TOUR 15 

Bald Mountain—Lolo Pass—Lost Lake—Wahtum Lake— 
Eagle Creek Forest Camp; 19.5 m. The Oregon Skyline (Lost 
Lake) Trail—Eagle Creek Trail. 

This trail diverges northward from the Timberline Trail 
at a point just west of EDEN PARK, 0 m., and comes down 
the precipitate and narrow Elk Creek. Forests in this region 
are dense with scattered, small open areas, luxuriant with wild 
growth following the late melting snows. 

At 3.1 m. the trail climbs through the timber just below 
historic Lolo Pass (L), and proceeds north over the old Walk 
Up Trail used for centuries by the Indian tribes as the prin¬ 
cipal route over the northern Cascades. Except for the few 
briefly lingering birds and the occasional cries of the marmot, 
martin, and lynx, this is a region of great stillness. Deer are 
commonly seen, bears amble out of hibernation to feast on 
the wild fruit, and eagles lift from the crags. 

85 


MOUNT HOOD 


Skirting the shoulder of HIYU MOUNTAIN, 3.7 m., the 
trail leaves Elk Creek. Climbing over the dividing ridge and 
the shoulder of SENTINEL PEAK, 4.8 m . (4,560 alt.), it 
proceeds northwest up Jones Creek, 5.2 m. Both of these 
streams empty into the west fork of Hood River one mile 
east. 

At 5.6 m. the trail crosses and climbs the creek bed around 
LOST LAKE BUTTE (R) to the forested level of LOST 
LAKE, 8 m. ( 3,140 alt.). This lake (227 acres), the most beauti¬ 
ful and remote of all lakes in the Mount Hood Recreation 
Area, has long been second only to the peak itself as a desti¬ 
nation for the mountain lover. The reflection of the peak, 
seen from the north shore, is enchanting and unforgettable. 
Many pictures of the scene have been painted. As no glacial 
waters enter the lake, its summer temperature is suitable for 
swimming. The Lost Lake Guard Station is open in the sum¬ 
mer months and many excellent and scenic trails, maintained 
by the Forest Service, radiate from the lake to alpine meadows 
and vista points. (Camp ground , cabins, and good hiking .) 

Camp Chinidere is on the shores of beautiful WAHTUM 
LAKE, 19.5 m. (free public camp grounds; two shelters). This 
lake, a half mile long and not quite so wide, is situated in a 
region of luxuriant forest growths. In the camp area, three 
signboards read: Herman Creek Trail (East); Eagle Creek 
Trail (West); Lost Lake Trail (South). 


86 


Ascent of the Peak 


WHEN David Douglas visited the Columbia River Valley in 
1825 , it was hi s opinion that Mount Hood could not be scaled. 
He noted in his Journal: “In June I was within a few miles 
of Mount Hood. Its appearance presented barriers that could 
not be surmounted by any person to reach its summit.” Never¬ 
theless, eight years afterward he attempted the climb without, 
however, leaving any record of achieving the crest. 

After him in 1845 Joel Palmer, later Oregon’s superinten¬ 
dent of Indian Affairs, climbed a considerable distance up the 
glaciated valley of White River while seeking a route for 
the Barlow and Palmer wagon trains. Following an Indian 
trail in a northerly direction, together with Barlow and Lock, 
he turned from the trail at a point just east of present-day 
Timberline Lodge, and proceeded westward around the moun¬ 
tain to a deep canyon, probably Zigzag River. He camped, 
it is believed, in Paradise Park just below Mississippi Head. 
From this base on October 12 Palmer started up the ice and 
lava slopes, leaving his laggard companions. It is possible 
that he ascended to Illumination Rock, or high up on Tri¬ 
angle Moraine a mile above timberline. From this elevation 
he determined the route the wagon train should follow west¬ 
ward. For the next decade Palmer’s account of his climbing 
exploit influenced all others attempting the journey; his route 
was the one generally followed, a section of it becoming the 
present well-known South Side Climb. Palmer Glacier, which 
he traversed, was named for him. 

In 1854 Thomas J. Dryer, editor of the Portland Oregonian > 
claimed to have been the first to climb to the top of the peak, 
but his chronicle of the trip carried no identifying evidence 
of his actually having reached the summit. He apparently 
attained only the crest of Steel Cliff. 

Not until July 11 , 1857 , is it certain that the pinnacle of 
Mount Hood was reached by white men. On that day four 

87 


MOUNT HOOD 


men, Henry L. Pittock, also of the Oregonian, the Reverend 
T. A. Woods, Lyman Chittenden, and Wilbur Cornell flung 
an American flag to the crest breezes. The four then formed 
a circle around the flag and gave three cheers. The climb from 
Summit Meadows consumed seven and one-half hours, and 
was spectacular in the last stretches because they were without 
a guiding precedent. They had only their boots and climbing 
“staves” to assist them. Their unprotected hands and faces 
were severely scorched and they suffered excruciating pain for 
days thereafter. 

The first women to climb to the summit were Miss Mary 
Robinson and Miss Fanny Case. They climbed together with 
several male companions, in the summer of 1867 . 

The first guide to the mountain was Perry Vickers who 
settled at Summit Meadows in 1868 . Later came Cornelius 
Gray, who likewise built a cabin for travelers and became 
a peak guide. Indeed, all early residents in this section were 
trail guides and “white peak men,” notably Oliver C. Yocum, 
the pioneer settler at Government Camp and a tireless climber, 
William G. Steel, who lingered here, homesteading, and 
Francis E. Little. 

As late as 1865 Mount Hood, from time to time as of old, 
provided its own illumination. Pioneers of the region mention 
several occasions when “an intermittent column of fire issued 
from the crater,” and the mountain was “enveloped in smoke 
and flames.” But these were the last eruptions of a dying 
volcano. 

On July 4 , 1870 , Perry Vickers climbed the eroded lava 
slopes to the high western ridges and the summit. Here he 
built a huge bonfire, providing the mountain with its first 
artificial illumination. No one saw this puny attempt; all 
being engrossed in their own displays of fireworks. 

Three years later Vickers offered his services to Portland’s 
Fourth of July “Celebration Committee” for another attempt 
at illuminating the mountain. The committee turned down 
the offer chiefly on the grounds that it would be too expensive, 
but partly because they believed no man could live in the 
raw night air of the summit. To disprove this contention 
Vickers climbed the mountain alone, spent the night there, 
and set off ten displays of fire for the benefit of “a committee 
of twenty-five persons of unimpeachable veracity.” By this 

88 


ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


exploit Vickers became the first person to spend the night 
atop Mount Hood. 

In 1877 a party from The Dalles made an unsuccessful 
attempt to light the mountain. It was their plan to illuminate 
the north side, which would not have been visible from 
Portland. In 1885 a Portland group with a plentiful supply 
of red fire and a clockwork ignition system made another 
attempt. After tedious hours of climbing and setting up the 
display, a falling rock set off the “infernal machine” prema¬ 
turely, in the middle of the afternoon. 

July 4 , 1887 , saw the white crest for the first time success¬ 
fully and brilliantly illuminated. Under the leadership of 
Will Steel, a party of seven transported 100 pounds of red 
fire up the steep slopes. The spot selected for the display was 
at the base of what thereafter was called Illumination Rock. 
Most of the party returned to camp, leaving two of its mem¬ 
bers, Dr. Keene and Steel, to spend several chilly hours until 
darkness. At half-past nine Keene and Steel rejoiced at being 
able to see the glow from fireworks displays in Portland, Van¬ 
couver, and Prineville. They realized, then, that their flares 
would be visible also. Promptly at half-past eleven, the hour 
agreed upon, the display was lighted. It lasted for fifty-eight 
seconds and was a complete success, being seen over a wide 
area of eastern and western Oregon and southern Washington. 
The local press of several communities commented on it as 
“the most unique event of the day.” 

Gradually the south slope area became known as the “start¬ 
ing point for climbs to the summit.” The first climbing clubs 
were organized and their members, with increasing frequency, 
visited the white upper reaches. Each year a larger number 
ascended to the crest until the yearly count surpassed the 
thousand mark. Under the stimulating influence of the Oregon 
Alpine Club, organized in 1887 , peak climbing became Ore¬ 
gon’s supreme sporting achievement. Guides became many and 
proficient. 

On the north side, the first ascent to the summit was by 
Newton Clark, for whom the glacier was then named. A home¬ 
steader near the town of Hood River, Clark was a civil en¬ 
gineer. He explored many of the mountain slopes that pre¬ 
viously were believed unscalable by man. On August 11 , 1887 , 
with William J. Smith and Elmer Rand, Clark traversed 
Eliot Glacier, over Coe Glacier above Barrett Spur, to Pulpit 

89 


MOUNT HOOD 


Rock, and on to Cathedral Ridge, along which they proceeded 
to the top. 

Will and Douglas Langille of Cloud Cap Inn were the first 
to ascend by the Cooper Spur Route, in 1893, but both had 
been climbing over Newton Clark Glacier since 1889. How¬ 
ever, it was Dave Cooper who first became a regular guide 
over the Spur. 

When the Mazamas were organized on July 19, 1894, on the 
summit of Mount Hood, membership in the club was con¬ 
ditioned on the applicant’s having previously climbed to the 
summit of at least one snow peak on which there is a living 
glacier and which can be reached only on foot. The name 
“Mazama” was adopted from that most agile of climbers of 
western peaks, the mountain goat. Their slogan, “Nesika 
Klatawa Sahle,” in Chinook jargon means “We climb high.” 
On this occasion Douglas Langille guided the climbers over 
the northeast shoulder of the peak. By 1897 Langille had 
made fifty ascents over Cooper Spur, sometimes using the trail 
now known as the Sunshine Route, which the Langille 
brothers developed. 

Two accidents, one of them fatal, occurred on the white 
slopes in the nineties. Late in August, 1896, near the big 
crevasse on the south side, the three daughters of William 
Killingsworth of Portland were descending the mountain, 
having climbed to the summit. An explosion was heard and 
looking up they saw a huge boulder fall from the crater wall 
and come hurtling down the snowfield toward them. One of 
the girls, Fay Killingsworth, was directly in its course. Instead 
of hitting her, however, it bounded completely over her, but 
threw up such a mass of snow that the girl was swept bodily 
into a crevasse fifty feet beyond. Fortunately she was soon 
rescued unharmed by another party member, Frank N. Spicer. 
The second accident was on July 11, 1897. Late the previous 
afternoon Frederic Kern, a sixty-year-old Swiss grocer of Port¬ 
land, registered at Cloud Cap Inn. Walking the distance from 
Hood River to the mountain, he inquired of Will Langille of 
the routes to the summit, said he had climbed in his youth 
in Switzerland and was interested in the volcanic features of 
the peak. The following morning at 4 o’clock, refusing com¬ 
panionship, he set out alone over Eliot Glacier. When far up 
on the moraine he left the “route,” veering to the southeast 

90 


ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


where he passed from the sight of Mrs. James L. Langille, 
mother of the Langille brothers, who was watching with field 
glass from the Inn. How Kern met his death after that was 
never accurately known. When he did not return by half-past 
five Will Langille set out to find him. Night fell, but under 
the half light of the moon the searcher found Kern’s body 
lying on the icy slopes of Newton Clark glacier, where it had 
been carried over the brow of the sharp bluff above. Appar¬ 
ently he had been struck by a shower of rocks and dashed to 
his death. 

After 1900 summer ascents of Mount Hood became fre¬ 
quent, so much so as to make itemized chronicling almost 
impossible for the historian. Climbing had become so popular 
by 1915 that Lije Coalman was hired by the Forest Service 
to erect a shelter cabin and fire lookout on the tip of the 
peak. At the edge of the timber midway between the crest 
and Government Camp, Timberline Cabin or Camp Blossom 
was constructed as a base of supplies and a way station for 
climbers. 

Sometimes spoken of as the “man of the mountain,” Lije 
Coalman, making his first climb with Yocum in 1897, was 
for thirty-one years Mount Hood’s best loved character and 
most popular guide. Well over six feet in height, he was open- 
hearted, read Emerson’s essays from a well-worn volume he 
carried, and as a pastime frequently indulged in uncommon 
and difficult mathematical problems. Coalman often rescued 
incautious adventurers who had become lost on the snow- 
fields. 

The Mazama record book at the Lookout Cabin holds the 
names of the first individuals to complete the ascent in the 
winter. Lije Coalman and Charles E. Warner broke all Ameri¬ 
can records for winter ascents of glacial peaks, when on 
March 8, 1915, they mounted to the crest. On December 31, 
1915, Warner and W. W. Evans climbed from Cloud Cap Inn, 
encountering two snow storms. They spent the night in the 
Lookout Cabin, then made their way down the south side to 
Government Camp. Again on January 1, 1920, Warner and 
Clem Blakney left Camp Blossom at 4:30 a.m. and reached 
the summit at 1:10 p.m. Returning, they reached Government 
Camp at 6:40 p.m. Except for the constant probability of severe 
storm and the penetrating temperature of the high altitude, 

9 1 


MOUNT HOOD 


winter climbing has advantages not equalled in summer, 
principally because of tramping over well-packed snow. 

Since the death of Kern in 1897 five people have lost their 
lives. Nearly all accidents on the peak have resulted from 
taking chances or from carelessness. In 1916 while attempting 
to climb by the south side route, Mr. and Mrs. A. H. Edlefsen, 
unsuitably garbed in street clothes and unequipped, became 
wearied upon reaching Crater Rock. Disregarding Coalman’s 
admonition that they remain there until the ascending party 
returned, they began the descent alone. When part way down 
they abandoned the sure course for a shorter one, and became 
lost in the timber with fog rolling up the mountainside. 
Darkness fell and with it came a storm of rain, sleet, and 
snow. Sustaining themselves on huckleberries, which were ripe, 
they had spent two days in the high forest when discovered 
not far from Zigzag canyon, two miles from Government Camp 
Hotel. 

On the north side in the 1920’s a second timberline shelter 
was built by the Hood River Post of the American Legion, 
as a “family camp” for the 200 or more persons who make the 
Legion’s annual climb to the summit. From this opening in 
the forests that fringe Tilly Jane Creek, the largest yearly 
supervised climbs of any snow peak in the Pacific Northwest 
were launched in 1921. “Fathered” by Kent Shoemaker, these 
ascents have usually been led by members of the Hood River 
Crag Rats, a mountaineering group organized in 1926. Only in 
one instance have these climbs been exceeded in the number of 
those participating—the ascent made by the Mantle Club of 
Portland, in 1936, which numbered 411 men and women. 

Each new year the thrill of being the first to reach the 
summit has drawn a few adventurous climbers up the 
winter-whitened slopes. More than a score have achieved this 
record. On New Year’s Day, 1926, two grown youths, Leslie 
Brownlee and A 1 Feyerabend, fully equipped, unsuccessfully 
attempted this feat. Climbing through snow flurries above 
Camp Blossom, at an early morning hour they advanced up 
the moraine of White River glacier. Overtaken at Crater Rock 
by zero visibility, Brownlee, who became exhausted, gave up 
and began to retrace his steps to the highway, far below. 
Battling the wind and snow which roared across the high 
wastes, Feyerabend sought to continue the climb alone. When 

92 



TIMBERLINE LODGE 







M owner 


MAZAMA LODGE 



Atkeson 


SUNRISE 






MAIN LOUNGE 
TIMBERLINE LODGE 


NORTH WINOWS 
TIMBERLINE LODGE 




Atkeson 


















U. S. V or cat Service 


THE EXPERT 





TOBOGGANING 


U. S. Forest Service 


The Oregonian 


SKI TOURNAMENT 



A 





CREVASSES 


The Oregonian 


CLIMBING THE SERACS, 
UPPER ICE FALLS OF 
ELIOT GLACIER 




Lincoln 





U. S. Forest Service 


ZIGZAG GLACIER PRONG OF SANDY RIVER 





ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


this proved futile he too began the return journey. The two 
were now completely separated and soon both were lost. 
Apparently Feyerabend’s keener cunning and a rift in the 
storm led him on a course that brought him back to the shelter 
at Camp Blossom. Leslie Brownlee, despite a search that lasted 
for eight days and enlisted scores of searchers, including 
trained mountaineers, army men, and forest rangers, was never 
found. 

Because of the greatly increased sports patronage in recent 
years more mishaps have occurred. While climbing steep snow 
over Cooper Spur on Sunday morning, July 17, 1927, part of 
a Mazama squad broke loose from the tie line and sped rapidly 
toward a crevasse 100 feet deep. Only the swiftness of their 
involuntary glissade saved them from worse tragedy than they 
suffered; they completely breached the chasm and after falling 
twenty feet were deposited on the far lip of the crevasse. In 
this accident the body of Dr. Stanton W. Stryker was pierced 
through with an alpenstock. Others were injured. Somewhat 
disregardful of normal precautions, three youths climbed 
above the Big Crevasse on July 5, 1932, before the life-line 
had been anchored for the summer. All were unroped and 
carried only alpenstocks. Glen Gullickson slipped and sped 
downward to his death on the exposed rocks. While a party 
was crossing a blind crevasse at the head of Coe Glacier on 
Labor Day, 1933, the roof collapsed and three members fell 
below the surface, sawing off the tie rope on the rough 
ice-edge. Of the three who fell into the crevasse, Miss Esther 
Gilman was seriously injured. A roaring gale was blowing and 
since the mishap had occurred only a half-mile from the sum¬ 
mit, with night falling, security for the party lay only in the 
cabin above. Up the long snow-covered area, aided by a rope 
line hastily let down the course, the girl was carried. There 
the group of thirteen remained for two days, descending by 
the safer south side route. Carried and at times slid over the 
upper reaches. Miss Gilman was placed on the toboggan 
cached at Crater Rock by the Wy’east Climbers, and the down- 
trip to Government Camp completed. 

Few in number but exacting in requirements for member¬ 
ship, the Wy’east Climbers were organized in December, 1930. 
Mountaineers of proven ability, these men have frequently 
led climbing parties and rescue groups and have provided 

93 


MOUNT HOOD 


first aid for injured climbers and skiers. But the best peak men 
may encounter trouble. Two Wy’easters, Ralph Calkin and 
Henry Corbett, accompanied by Elsie Hall and Jean Blake, 
rode an avalanche over the northern wall of Cooper Spur onto 
Eliot Glacier in June 1937. While descending by the Sun¬ 
shine route eighteen inches of newly-fallen snow began moving 
from under their feet. Despite all efforts to break their descent 
they were swept over the brink of the upper snowfield, drop¬ 
ping seventy-five feet. Only the cushioning mass of snow into 
which they fell saved them from possible death. Three of them 
suffered severe friction burns. 

The mountain’s most recent tragedy was on March 27, 
1938. A winter climbing party of fourteen, forced back by 
blizzard when within a few hundred feet of the crest, was 
making its way toward Lone Fir Cabin when Roy Varney, 
a Mazaman, was overcome by exertion and chill. Forty-nine 
years old and at the time physically unequal to the feat of 
climbing, he died in the snow a short distance above the cabin. 
Meanwhile a fellow climber, Russell Gueffroy, twenty-nine 
and a Trails Club member, plunging on through the storm 
alone, presumably toward Camp Blossom, became lost in the 
timber of Sand Canyon. His frozen body, snow-covered, was 
found four days later. However, in view of the fact that 
thousands of people make the climb each year accidents and 
tragedies have been few. 

Since 1932 a number of new summit routes have been fol¬ 
lowed out by adventurous mountaineers, particularly by mem¬ 
bers of the Mazamas and the Wy’east Climbers. Some of these 
are considered “stunt” climbs and are not for the inexperi¬ 
enced. A few vary the routes previously taken. Also, winter 
erosion, from time to time, alters the accessibility of old 
routes. 

Today there are eleven routes to the crest of Mount Hood. 
Three of these are well-known and conventionally used by the 
majority of summit climbers; with the South Side Climb, 
beginning at Timberline Lodge, the safest and the one most 
frequently taken. 

Mount Hood is America’s most climbed major peak, an 
average of 1,500 persons ascending its rugged slopes each year. 
The annual “mass” climbs of the Mazamas and Hood River 
Legionnaires are supplemented by the numerous small parties 

94 


ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


that mount ant-like to the crest. Confirmed mountaineers 
make the journey several times a year, a few have climbed 
every month in a single year. 


VIEW FROM THE SUMMIT 

THE most magnificent view that Oregon affords awaits the 
climber from the summit of Mount Hood. Of the great snow 
sentinels of the Pacific Northwest, the third in rank, it rises 
above the common Cascadian elevation about 6,000 feet. 
Visible to the west on either side of the thread-like river, the 
Willamette Valley sweeps to the gray horizon of the Coast 
Range, 82 miles distant. The Pacific Ocean, because of the 
obstructing mountains, is not visible. 

To the south stands the snow-covered, chimney-like top of 
Mount Jefferson in the backbone of the Cascades. Beyond 
lift the Three Sisters, white clad and remote, with the blue- 
green blur of Diamond Peak far against the southern skyline. 

Eastward lies central and eastern Oregon, a widespread 
checkerboard of wheat and alfalfa fields, and sheep and 
cattle ranges, with the occasional deep-carved river canyon, 
“jagged as lightning down the colored miles.” In the dim 
distance, the Blue Mountains, justifying their name, draw a 
turquoise blur along the receding earth-line. Sun will some¬ 
times be seen shining over the intervening high desert area, 
while western Oregon lies wrapped in mists and cloud. 

Beyond the deep and austere gorge of the Columbia River, 
stretching from east to west in the immediate northern fore¬ 
ground, rise the white peaks of the State of Washington. 
Slightly to the right is rugged Mount Adams, due north and 
farthest removed is Mount Rainier, while Mount St. Helens, 
a perfect white cone, lifts to the left of this sweeping pano¬ 
rama, serrated with other lesser and green-forested peaks. 
Like the mountain range area to the south, this northern green 
land is scattered with silver, gem-like lakes. Nearest of all, 
between the Columbia and the peak itself, lie the reflecting, 
placid surfaces of Lost Lake and Bull Run Lake, visibly the 
largest of all. 

At the immediate feet of the climber spread Mount Hood’s 
ten glaciers, blinding white in clear sun. From the snouts of 
these ancient ice masses more than a dozen rivers and creeks 

95 


MOUNT HOOD 


stream down the eroded lava and forest-clad slopes. Lower 
still, the highway girdle loops and turns through the flower¬ 
ing meadows and the evergreens of the Cascades, falling away 
to the state’s agricultural levels, and its towns and villages— 
the homes of its nature lovers and recreationists, hundreds of 
whom each year climb Mount Hood to obtain this unmatch- 
able view. 


SUMMIT CLIMBS 

Special Information: Latest information on climbing con¬ 
ditions should be obtained from Forest Service officials or 
experienced guides since at certain times summit routes are 
extremely unsafe. 

Climbing conditions on Mount Hood change constantly: 
sun warmth, winds, storms, time of year and time of day, all, 
while varying the atmospheric appeal affect the security of 
footing. May and June are considered the safest months for 
climbing. The start should be made in the very early morn¬ 
ing hours, preferably by daybreak. The warm afternoon hours 
should be avoided as hazardous. Because of repeated thawing 
and freezing the high talus slopes and ledges are definitely 
insecure in late summer. 

Rock climbing and snow climbing require different skills, 
equipment suitable for the conditions, and an unrelaxed 
diligence to avoid accidents. Wear windproof clothing. Equip¬ 
ment should include alpenstock, heavy shoes, crampons, 
colored glasses, sunburn lotion, canteen, and flashlight. 
Leaders and qualified assistants should carry ice axes for 
cutting foot and handholds in snow and rock. One or more 
tie ropes should be carried by each party. 

Climbers should be in prime physical condition when at¬ 
tempting this arduous pleasure. For one to become exhausted 
or unable to continue the upward journey hinders the entire 
party. Never climb the peak alone. It is always advisable to 
climb in company with one or more persons familiar with 
the route. In danger zones wise climbers go roped three and 
four together, thus enabling them to pull one another out 
of difficulty should accident occur. Confidence should never 
overrule good judgment and ability. “Stunt” climbing is in¬ 
advisable. By far the majority of professional and amateur 
climbers are conservative, seeking their own safety and that 
of others. Do not take chances. 

96 


ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


Always seek shelter at the first threat of storm, which may 
strike suddenly and with blizzard intensity. If lost where fuel 
is available build a fire for warmth; its smoke will also serve 
as a signal for searchers. If near a snowfield, climb to its open 
reaches where you may be sighted by a searcher’s fieldglass. 


ROUTE 1 

Timberline Lodge—Lone Fir Lookout—Palmer Glacier— 
Crater Rock—“The Chute”—Summit; 3.7 m.. South Side 
Climb. 

Safest and most popular route; time, 8 hours. 

From a starting point just west of TIMBERLINE LODGE, 
0 m., this historic route of the earliest peak climbers proceeds 
along the Salmon River Canyon Ridge, over a well-defined 
trail to Lone Fir Lookout (6,700 alt.), 0.8 m. (summer fire 
lookout station). Continuing due north the route crosses 
Palmer Glacier, 1.5 m. (7,500 alt.). This active ice field, a 
half-mile wide, rather flat and devoid of crevasses owing to 
its smoothness and ease of travel, affords a minimum of hazard 
for the climber. White River lies in a canyon to the east. 
To the west is Zigzag Glacier, source of the Zigzag River which 
flows southwest and west into the Sandy River. 

Triangular Moraine, 2 m . (8,000 alt.), is a high rib of rock 
along the west rim of White River Glacier, left by early ice 
flows as they moved down the face of the mountain. White 
River Glacier flows down the steep gorge (R), while far below 
the river’s pumice-whitened waters emerge from the blue- 
green glacial ice. 

Make-Up Rock, 2.5 m. (9,500 alt.), at the north head of 
Triangular Moraine, rises above the great snow plain, and 
gets its name from the habit of climbers who here grease their 
faces and don dark glasses as protection from wind and snow 
burn. It is sometimes called Pack Rock. 

Climbing an average of more than a thousand feet each 
half mile, the route crosses crevasse-furrowed snow and curves 
around wind-scourged crags to the base of Crater Rock, 
3.1 m. (10,000 alt.). At the foot of this massive boulder a first 
aid toboggan, provided by the Wy’east Climbers, is kept for 
emergencies. 


97 


MOUNT HOOD 


The route, on leaving Triangular Moraine, goes around the 
east side of Crater Rock, past the Devil’s Kitchen, 3.2 ra. 
(10,400 alt.), a bare spot at the head of White River Glacier 
where numerous gas vents, or fumaroles, send forth from the 
mountain’s dying internal fire sulphuric smudges. Steel Cliff 
(R) is a great wall of lava, named for William G. Steel, a 
pioneer in Mount Hood’s recreational development. The cliff 
extends in broken ramparts to the summit of the peak, rising 
nearly a thousand feet above its southern base at the Kitchen 
(see climbs 4 and 9). 

From the Devil’s Kitchen the route angles westerly, up and 
over the Hogback, a high ridge of snow, to the Hot Rocks, 
3.3 m. (10,000 alt.), lying immediately below the “CHUTE,” 
and some 50 yards north of the huge ever-steaming fumarole 
in Crater Rock. The gas vents in both the Devil’s Kitchen and 
the Hot Rocks have shown temperatures of 193 0 F. Gasses 
from these fumaroles are deadly and have claimed one life. 
Victor F. Von Norman, a young University of Washington 
student, on August 27, 1934, was tempted to descend into one 
of the largest of these fumaroles. He was overcome almost 
immediately by the noxious gas, so dense as to exclude all 
oxygen from the atmosphere of the cavern. Of those who went 
to the victim’s rescue, nine were seriously affected and two 
were rendered unconscious. Only when oxygen helmets were 
used, were recovery efforts successful, too late to save Von 
Norman’s life. 

Stretching up the “Chute” in summer are a series of ropes 
totaling 1,000 feet in length, anchored to iron pipes driven 
into the ice. These afford support for the climber up this steep 
grade which averages more than 30 degrees. 

The Crest at the upper end of the “Chute,” 3.6 m. (11,220 
alt.), commands the most spectacular view of the entire climb. 
Below the sharp, 3,000-foot precipice of the north side hang 
the ice falls of Coe and Ladd Glaciers, with their white 
fields spreading down the precipitous slopes to timberline. 

At this point the route turns eastward, following the ridge 
for nearly 400 feet, to the Summit, 3.7 m. (11,245 alt.), and 
Summit Cabin. Until recently, adequate shelter from storms 
and protection for over-night campers has been afforded by 
the cabin, built by Lije Coalman for the Forest Service in 
1915 as a summer fire lookout station. Buffeted by many 

98 


ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


storms, this small frame structure is today none too secure 
and threatens collapse. A registration book provided by the 
Mazamas is signed by all who make the crest. A few experts 
have made the climb in four hours. 


ROUTE 2 

Cloud Cap Inn or Tilly Jane Forest Camp—Ghost Ridge— 
Eliot Glacier—Cooper Spur—“The Chimney”—Summit; 
3.8 m.. Cooper Spur Climb. 

Most popular north side route; comparatively safe; time, 7 hours. 

One of the shortest of the charted ascents, this route is fre¬ 
quently chosen for such mass climbs as that of the Hood River 
Post of the American Legion. The climb begins either at the 
CLOUD CAP INN or the TILLY JANE FOREST CAMP, 
0 m., which is also the Legion base camp. At a point just 
below timberline complete camp and kitchen facilities are 
maintained for the large crowds that visit this section each 
July, either to participate in the annual Legion event of peak 
scaling or to join in the festivities of that occasion. 

The trail ascends Ghost Ridge, 1.2 m. (7,000 alt.), so-called 
for the ghostly trees left standing by an early forest fire, and 
proceeds along the easterly margin of Eliot Glacier, Mount 
Hood’s largest and most characteristic ice mass. This crevasse- 
furrowed ice sheet was named for Dr. Thomas Lamb Eliot, an 
early north side mountaineer and one of Portland’s well- 
known clergymen. 

From this point, by a series of traverses, the way mounts 
the rocky ice-hung pitch of Cooper Spur, S m. on the north¬ 
east shoulder of the mountain. In 1886 Mr. and Mrs. David 
Cooper operated a summer camp for vacationists on the 
wooded slopes just below this prominent feature. 

Atop Cooper Spur (8,500 alt.) the route curves to the right, 
past Tie-In Rock, 3.2 m., and climbs rapidly over a 45 0 snow 
slope to the “Chimney,” 3.3 m., where a thousand feet of five- 
eighths inch rope or “lifeline” extends almost to the summit. 
(Rope strung by the Hood River Crag Rats each May and 
removed after Labor Day. When not in use, rope coil is stored 
in Summit Cabin.) 

The Summit, 3.8 m., is the high north rim of the crater. 

99 


MOUNT HOOD 


ROUTE 3 

Tilly Jane Forest Camp—Eliot Glacier—Jefferson Rocks— 
Cathedral Spire—Summit; 5 m., Sunshine Trail or North Face 
Climb. 

Rather steep but frequently favored for large parties; time, 9 hours. 

This is the third most used route to the summit and was 
developed in 1925 by Mark Weygandt. It is considered longer 
and steeper than most of the peak climbs, but is generally a 
safe route for large parties, and is so named because climbers 
are in the direct light of the sun nearly all the way. Annually, 
parties of Mazamas climb by this way because Eliot Glacier 
is one of the most scenic and accessible glaciers in the world. 
The Legion climbers have also followed this course. 

The route originates at Tilly Jane Forest Camp, 0 m., 
just below Cooper Spur, and follows the Cooper Spur Trail 
to Eliot Glacier, 3 m., which it crosses. Langille Crags, 
a pinnacle wedge of rocks named for the peak-climbing Lan- 
gilles, extends along the west side of the glacier. The way 
angles up to Jefferson Rocks, named for President Jefferson, 
and Horseshoe Rock, 3.5 m. (8,700 alt.). 

From this point the trail climbs at a 45 0 slant to the snow 
and ice ridges north of the summit, where it rounds to 
Cathedral Crags, 4.5 m. (9,224 alt.), at the head of Cathedral 
Ridge just above Coe Glacier. This ice field was named for 
Captain Henry Coe, a pioneer resident of the Hood River 
Valley. In the late eighties and nineties he operated a stage 
line to the Cloud Cap district. From this ridge the climber 
looks down (R) on Ladd, Sandy, and Reid Glaciers, and Eden 
Park and the Wy’east Basin. Every type of glacial formation 
is visible from this part of the trail. 

Climbing above the Crags, the route crosses through the 
Crater to the Summit, 5 m. 

ROUTE 4 

Timberline Lodge—Palmer Glacier—White River Glacier— 
Steel Cliff—Summit; 4.8 m., Wy’east Trail Climb or Steel Cliff 
Route. 

Somewhat difficult and not without hazards; the safest of the spectacular 
sporting routes; time, 8 hours. 


lOO 


ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


Blazed in 1932 by James Mount and Everett Darr, this climb 
has become the principal sporting route to the crest and is 
the most climbed new route. The mountaineer must beware 
of falling rock and ice fragments, which make the final ascent 
a hazardous but spectacular journey. It is believed that Dryer 
followed a variation of this route in his questionable ascent 
of 1854. Around 1890 it was used by the Langilles, who con¬ 
ducted parties around to it from the north side. The present 
route is a simplification of the early climbs. 

Leaving TIMBERLINE LODGE, 0 m. } and proceeding 
over the conventional South Side Route to the head of Palmer 
Glacier, 1.5 m., the trail turns right, dropping down into and 
crossing the upper reaches of White River Glacier. Ascend¬ 
ing to the moraine just east of this ice mass and below the 
rock rampart of Steel Cliff, 3 m., it mounts a sheer snow- 
field to the lower cliff ridge, 3.4 m. Climbing this, the traveler 
looks directly down into the low southern portion of the 
Crater and across to Crater Rock. Vertical pinnacles rise and 
drop on all sides and give a graphic picture of the formation 
of the peak. 

From the West Rim of the Cliff Wall, 3.6 m., the route 
leads north up some tricky ledges of rotten rock. (Climb at 
your own risk.) 

The climb finishes in a very steep 50° snow-filled “Chim¬ 
ney,” 4.3 m., leading to the Summit, 4.8 m. 


ROUTE 5 

Junction with Timberline Trail—Newton Clark Glacier— 
East Rim of Crater—Summit; 4.5 m., Newton Clark Glacier— 
East Face Climb. 

Sheer and difficult; requires thorough knowledge of climbing hazards; 
time, 9 hours. 

'From a junction with the TIMBERLINE TRAIL, 0 m., on 
the east side of the peak, this difficult route leads directly to 
the foot of NEWTON CLARK GLACIER. Newton Clark 
came to the Hood River Valley in 1877. A teacher, surveyor, 
and nature lover, he was the first to climb to the summit over 


101 


MOUNT HOOD 


this ice field, since named for him. As early as 1889 climbing 
parties were being conducted from the Cloud Cap area across 
Newton Clark Glacier to the spur below Steel Cliff, which 
they ascended. 

Traversing this expansive white slope, the route reaches 
the sheer rock wall at the glacier’s head, 3.8 m. Up this the 
way mounts. The extremely sharp faces and rotten rock for¬ 
mations of this upreared wall make a thorough knowledge 
of mountain hazards an essential. (Climb at your own risk.) 

Only a few have made this ascent, which continues from 
the crest or East Rim of the Crater, 4.2 m. to the Summit, 
4.5 m. 


ROUTE 6 

Upper Sandy River Canyon—Yocum Ridge—Sandy Glacier— 
Reid Glacier—Illumination Rock—Summit; 4.8 m.. West Face 
Climb or “Avalanche Route.” 

A route of some danger due to frequent slides; time, 9 hours. 

This route, constantly endangered by snow and rock slides, 
mounts the pumice slopes of the SANDY RIVER CANYON. 
From a junction with the TIMBERLINE TRAIL, 0 m., it 
follows along the north face of Yocum Ridge, 2 m., named for 
Oliver C. Yocum, who came to Oregon as a boy in the emi¬ 
gration of 1847. Pri or t° 1900 he led more climbers to the top 
of Mount Hood than any other guide. Sandy Glacier lies 
white and glaring to the climber’s left as he ascends. 

At the head of the Ridge the route crosses Reid Glacier, 
3 m. (8,136 alt.), at its extreme tip. Following the visit in 1901 
of Professor Henry Fielding Reid, an authority on glaciers 
of Johns Hopkins University, this lesser ice mass was named 
for him. Illumination Rock (9,580 alt.) stands to the right. 
On this prominent eminence was staged the first artificial 
illumination of Mount Hood. 

From this point the route climbs eastward almost directly 
up the steep rugged slope to the crest of the summit ridge. 
(Climb at your own risk.) 

The route is completed at the Summit, 4.8 m. 

102 


ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


ROUTE 7 

Eden Park—Junction with Timberline Trail—Ladd Glacier 
—Cathedral Ridge—Summit; 6 m.. Cathedral Ridge Climb. 

Arduous and extremely dangerous; avalanche conditions prevail; time, 
1 i hours. 

First explored by Newton Clark in 1887, this route leaves 
the TIMBERLINE TRAIL, 0 m., in the Eden Park area. 
Climbing over small Eden Park Glacier it proceeds (R) 
across the snowfield of Ladd Glacier, so named for William 
Mead Ladd of Portland, who at an early date did much to 
make the north side section a recreational center. 

The way mounts to the rocky buttress of Cathedral Ridge, 
3 m. (9,500 alt.), climbing that long almost perpendicular face 
to its Crest, 5 m. En route the climber stares down (L) at the 
tip end of Pulpit Rock, a sharp and solitary pinnacle at the 
head of Ladd and Coe Glaciers. (Climb at your own risk.) 

From this dividing ridge, free of snow only in mid-summer, 
the route—which at this point offers several variations— 
ranges southeast, mounting by the Sunshine Route over the 
steep final grade to the snow crags of the Summit, 6 m. 

ROUTE 8 

Wy’east Basin—Ladd Glacier—Barrett Spur—Coe Rock— 
Cathedral Ridge—Summit; 5.5 m., Pulpit Rock Climb. 

Extremely difficult, with many hazards; alternates from rock to ice; time, 
9 hours. 

Diverging from the TIMBERLINE TRAIL, 0 m., in the 
Wy’east Basin just below Ladd Glacier, this hazardous route 
climbs over the northern ice fields and along the slopes of 
Barrett Spur, 1.7 m. (7,846 alt.). This ridge dividing Coe from 
Ladd Glaciers was named for Doctor P. G. Barrett, who set¬ 
tled in Hood River Valley in 1871. For many years he was the 
only physician in a wide region of ranches and wilderness. 

At 3.2 m. the route mounts to a junction with Ladd Glacier 
and Coe Rock (8,705 ah). Here the route continues up the 
rock cleaver between Ladd and Coe Glaciers, sometimes forc¬ 
ing the mountaineer to the steep ice of Coe, because of im- 

103 


MOUNT HOOD 


passible rock. The great lava nose of Pulpit Rock, 4.2 m 
rears between Ladd and Coe Glaciers just below the merger 
point of these two upslanted ice sheets. In 1887 a party headed 
by Newton Clark climbed along the west side of this rock, but 
the sheer east face was not conquered until 1936, by Irving B. 
Lincoln. (Climb at your own risk.) 

From a junction with the Crest of Cathedral Ridge, 5 m., 
the trail follows the conventional Sunshine Route to the 
Summit, 5.5 m. 


ROUTE 9 

Timberline Lodge—Lone Fir Lookout—Palmer Glacier— 
Crater Rock—East Crater Wall—Steel Cliff—Summit; 4.6 m.. 
Inner Steel Cliff or East Face of Crater Wall Climb. 

Rocky and insecure; requires delicate hand and footholds; time, 10 hours. 

Leaving TIMBERLINE LODGE and the Timberline Trail, 
0 m.y this hazardous climb, made first by Gary Leach in 1937, 
follows the conventional South Side Route to the foot of 
Steel Cliff, 3.2 m., near the Hot Rocks. 

The route up the face of Steel Cliff, inside the cup of the 
crater, traverses an area of scattered and loose lava rock, that 
readily assumes an avalanche nature. The most secure foot 
and handholds are imperative. (Climb at your own risk.) 

Topping Steel Cliff, 4.2 m. (11,000 alt.), the white crown of 
the Summit, 4.6 m. stands a short distance to the north. 


ROUTE 10 

Paradise Park—Illumination Rock—Reid Glacier—Yocum 
Ridge—The Crest—Summit; 7 m., Sandy Glacier Cirque or 
Headwall Climb. 

The mountain’s second most difficult climb; for experts only; time, 10 
hours. 

This extremely difficult climb, first made in 1937 by J oe 
Leuthold and Russell Mcjury, is up the mountain’s west face, 
leaving the Timberline Trail at PARADISE PARK, 0 m., on 
the southwest side. 

104 


ASCENT OF THE PEAK 


Emerging from the highest-reaching trees, the way crosses 
Zigzag Glacier, 1.5 m., and climbs up to the saddle above 
Illumination Rock, 3.2 m. This isolated mass of abrupt pro¬ 
portions and difficult ascent, was first conquered by T. Ray¬ 
mond Conway in the early twenties. From this point the way 
crosses the upper ice of Reid Glacier, 4.1 m., to the head of 
Yocum Ridge, 4.8 m. 

From this ridge the route works up the precipitous rock 
wall that stands at the head of Sandy Glacier, 5.5 m. The 
climb becomes extremely difficult owing to the disintegrating 
nature of the cliff up which it mounts. Constant peril is 
occasioned because of the active rock slides. (Climb at your 
own risk.) 

At the Crest, 6.5 m., the climber literally straddles the 
narrow ridge. The way continues to the Summit, 7 m. 


ROUTE 11 

Tilly Jane Forest Camp—Cooper Spur—Eliot Glacier Head- 
wall—Summit; 3.5 m., Eliot Glacier or Headwall Climb. 

Extremely hazardous; for experts willing to take a chance; time, 10 hours. 

Rated as the most difficult of the climbs to the summit is this 
route up the northeast shoulder of the mountain. Only three 
parties have been able to make this ascent, first climbed by 
Mark Weygandt and Arthur Emmons in the early twenties. 

Leaving Timberline Trail and TILLY JANE FOREST 
CAMP, 0 m., the way lies exactly between the Cooper Spur 
Route (L) and the Sunshine Route (R). Proceeding over Eliot 
Glacier, 1.5 m. to the Headwall, 2.6 m., the mountaineer 
must mount this nearly perpendicular, craggy surface, which 
lifts almost 3,000 feet overhead. 

The climb up this sheer wall can only be made when there 
is sufficient snow and ice to hold the rotten lava rock in place. 
Expert axe work and rare judgment are required, particularly 
at places where the overhanging ledge subjects the climber to 
extreme hazard. (Climb at your own risk.) 

Once on the Crest of the Headwall, 3.2 m. y the way is up 
the short remaining but steep slope to the Summit, 3.5 m. 


105 


R.E.LEDOUX 




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MOUNT HOOD 

RECREATION AREA 


SCALE or MILCS 


MOTOR TOURS 

PORTLAND-MT. HOOD (STATE 5CD 
PORTLAND.-MT.HOOD (US.30 STATE355 
WAPANITIA HIGHWAY (STATE 50) 

CLEAR CREEK ROAD 
SHERAR BURN ROAD 
THE SKYLINE ROAD 
BARLOW BONNEY BUTTE ROAD 
LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN DUFUR ROAD 

HIKING AND RIDING TRAILS 

SALMON RIVER TRAIL Q 

PIONEER BRIDLE PATH © 

WEST ZIGZAG MOUNTAIN TRAIL 0 

EAST ZIGZAG ROAD AND TRAIL 
STILL GREEK TRAIL 
PARADISE PARK TRAIL 
HIDDEN LAKE WAY 
YOCUM FALLS MIRROR LAKE TRAIL 
CAMP BLOSSOM TRAIL 
SKYLINE TRAIL 
TIMBERLINE TRAIL 
BARLOW RIDGE TRAIL 
HOOD RIV. MWDS. COLD SPRINGS CR.I 
BADGER LAKE TRAIL M* 

LOST LAKE TRAIL C\ 





































Winter Sports and Ski Trails 


IN the years just prior to Oregon settlement, trappers lived 
in winter-bound cabins in the remote Cascades, a few as high 
as timberline on the taller peaks. At a later period, settlers 
came to the meadows, where the snows of winter nearly or 
completely covered their rude log homes and rough board 
structures. In those early days, and until quite recent years, 
the winter trip to Mount Hood from Portland was an ex¬ 
tremely difficult one, and infrequently taken. Either of two 
courses was followed, and both were time-consuming journeys. 
One was by team and wagon up the Barlow Road, as far as 
the deepening snows permitted, with the remainder of the 
way to Government Camp made on snowshoes. The other 
route was by train to Hood River, thence by stage up the 
valley as far as the straining horses could plow through the 
huge drifts of the higher slopes and canyons. Here likewise 
snowshoes and physical stamina were needed for completing 
the journey to such north side shelters as Cloud Cap Inn and 
the few settlers’ lodges. On such occasions travelers went 
warmly wrapped in furs, and copious publicity preceded and 
followed each outing. 

It is believed that Dick Maupin, active as a forest ranger 
about 1900, was the first to use skis as a means of winter travel 
on Mount Hood. This was in the Summit Prairie region. 
Shortly afterward, in 1903, the Mazamas held their pioneer 
winter outing. Setting forth on what was then called “a 
perilous trip,” this party of three—Colonel Hawkins, T. Brook 
White, and Martin W. Gorman, the botanist, on “Norwegian 
skis” and using “balancing poles,” climbed high up the white 
peak. On this outing Mr. White prophesied that the time 
would come when more people would come to Mount Hood 
in winter for the sports than ever came in summer. “The as¬ 
pect of the mountain is infinitely finer than in summer,” he 
declared. 

108 



SKIERS 


The Oregonian 









The Oregonian 


THE SKI JUMPER LEAVING THE TAKE-OFF 



CLIMBING MT. HOOD BY WAY OF STEEL CLIFF 




APPLYING GREASE PAINT TO PREVENT SUNBURNING 


U. S. Forest Service 


McIntosh 


LOOKOUT CABIN ON SUMMIT OF MT. HOOD 





TERMINUS OF NEWTON 
CLARK GLACIER 


CLIMBING THE ICE FALLS, 
ELIOT GLACIER 


Onthank 


Ij antes 





RIDING PARTY 


Tim berime Lod&e Ass'n. 


U. S. Forest Service 


CAMPING 




PUNCH BOWL FALLS, EAGLE CREEK TRAIL 


U . S. forest Service 



ALONG THE OLD STAGE ROAD, NEAR MT 


HOOD 


Angelas Studio 


EL W vS 












MI. HOOD, VIEWED FROM CLOUD CAP INN 

(6 000 Vect Elevation) 


Henderson 







SOUTH SLOPE OF MT. HOOD IN SUMMER 


Altorfcr 













WINTER SPORTS AND SKI TRAILS 


Among the winter recreationists visiting the north side an¬ 
nually from 1901 to 1909 was a group that organized the Port¬ 
land Snowshoe Club. These clubmen used Norwegian-made 
skis. In 1910 they built a mountain cabin on Ghost Ridge 
near timberline, a comfortable structure still in use as a club¬ 
house. The Portland Ski Club was formed in 1907, and an¬ 
nual February trips to Government Camp were begun. Their 
entire purpose was skiing. Of the Mazamas that came each 
year in adventurous numbers, only the hardier members 
climbed beyond the end of the road at Rhododendron. As a 
means of winter security the Mazama Club built a lodge at 
the foot of Laurel Hill, near what is now Twin Bridges. From 
this point club members climbed on skis to Paradise Park, 
and the west and south slopes of the higher altitudes. This 
was in 1920. About this time the Mount Hood Loop Highway 
went through to Government Camp and, when in 1926 the 
Highway Department began plowing out the snow-choked 
thoroughfare, the multitude of winter sports enthusiasts fol¬ 
lowed. With winter road clearance assured, the center of 
skiing moved to the Government Camp area. And the Mazama 
Lodge moved with it, up the mountain. 

Only within the past ten years have winter sports on Mount 
Hood become the popular diversion of the many. Not until 
after the winter of 1926-27, in which Calvin White, a sixteen- 
year-old skier disappeared in a storm and nearly lost his life 
were efforts made to make winter recreation a safe sport. In 
1927 the Advertising Club of Portland sponsored the develop¬ 
ment of a national sports playground in the area east and 
south of Government Camp, where a ski-jumping hill was 
prepared, a toboggan slide graded, and a small running area 
cleared. This centering of winter activities was done with the 
intention of keeping the sports of the snow season within a 
comparatively small and safe sector. Despite this, the more 
ardent skiers were soon climbing to timberline and far above. 
A few ascended on skis to the very summit, from which they 
made a precipitate return. By 1930 the sport enthusiasts had 
taken the white mountain. 

The first ski hill was down the east slope of Multorpor 
Mountain just west of Swim. Here the first jumping tourna¬ 
ment was held. Soon a “master” hill was graded on Multor- 
por’s north slope, and the Mount Hood Ski Club was formed. 

109 


MOUNT HOOD 


This soon became the Cascade Ski Club, and a club house 
was built. When later a northwest unit of the National Ski 
Association was formed, this club and other local groups be¬ 
came participators in ski events of local, regional, and national 
scope. Likewise, the Portland Winter Sports Association was 
organized to popularize winter sports on Hood, and an annual 
carnival program became an event appealing to thousands. 
Only within the last few years has the program expanded to 
include the popular downhill and slalom racing. 

Meanwhile, the Ski Bowl on the north slopes of Tom-Dick- 
Harry Mountain was cleared for the sport of the waxed 
runners. An enlarged area of more than 160 acres, offering all 
degrees of slope and all types of skiing conditions, was also 
put into use in the space lying between the Ski Bowl and the 
Ski Jump. At once this became—and still is—the ideal train¬ 
ing field for amateurs. 

Only in comparatively recent years has the upper ski area 
come into general usage. The Alpine and Blossom Ski Trails 
were traced adventurously down the mountainside. The 
Nanitch Ski Hill, a well-cleared portion having a variety of 
general and “stunt” features, came into popularity. Free of 
snags, with a varying terrain, it proved suitable for all de¬ 
grees of ability. With the construction of the two Timberline 
Roads, this upper skiing area greatly increased in appeal. 
In 1937 the construction and opening of Timberline Lodge, 
at the head of this vast sport’s field, brought an added multi¬ 
tude of recreationists. To accommodate these, coming in 
greatest numbers on weekends and holidays, extensive parking 
sectors were allotted to cars, at Timberline Lodge, Phlox 
Point, Summit Ranger Station and Government Camp. 

The open and wooded slopes below Cooper Spur, on the 
north shoulder of Mount Hood, were in 1938 prepared as a 
ski area. Winter sports seekers from the north enter this dis¬ 
trict by way of the Mount Hood Loop Highway and the 
Cooper Spur Road. While the upper slopes as far up the 
mountain as the Tilly Jane Forest Camp are used by the 
more hardy and daring skiers, the central ski area, with full 
advantages for both the expert and the novice, lies to the right 
of the ascending Cooper Spur Road just above its junction 
with the Loop Highway. 

With the growing popularity of skiing, interest in winter 

110 


WINTER SPORTS AND SKI TRAILS 


hiking on snowshoes has also increased. At least a few sports 
lovers tramp long distances on this webbed and durable 
footwear, especially serviceable in snow too soft to properly 
support the more customary skis. Long-experienced skiers 
occasionally climb within a thousand feet of the very summit 
of winter-wrapped Mount Hood, from which they “schuss” 
rapidly back to more friendly levels. These and many others 
also find Paradise Park, with its open east and west slopes, a 
“natural” skiing range. 

Latest in the sport’s development on the mountain is the 
construction by the Forest Service of an upper ski tow, or 
lift, so built as to be out of view from Timberline Lodge. 

Today the skiing fields of Mount Hood are the most heavily 
used in America, with more than 75,000 sports seekers in the 
snow season of 1938-39. Each year such tournaments as the 
National Downhill Championship Meet, the Northwest Jump¬ 
ing Meet, and the Grand Slalom Races are held with many 
thrills and spills. These events occur in the mountain’s upper 
and lower sectors, on the south side. 

On these upper slopes, a ski patrol, begun in the winter 
of 1937 an d conducted as an altruistic first aid enterprise, 
covers the regular courses at intervals. Down each trail at 
darkfall, two-man units descend to the highway, assisting any 
who may have met with accident, thus avoiding any possi¬ 
bility of tragedy. 


SKIING AREAS AND TRAILS 

Special Information for Skiers: Skiers should be warmly 
but not too heavily clad in garments that permit free bodily 
movement. Skis should be of manageable length and weight 
and secured to shoes of stout leather. Skiers should carry ski 
poles or alpenstocks, should wear smoked glasses to protect 
the eyes from the blinding effect of sun on snow, and should 
protect the skin from wind and sunburn. 

While the skiing areas of Mount Hood afford a variety of 
practice slopes, all the regular trails are fast. To use these 
safely a knowledge of skiing is necessary and the timely use 
of such maneuvers as stemming and stem turning to slow the 
descent over rough and dangerous terrain. Sane skiing calls 
for the selection of trails suitable to ability. Once control is 


111 


MOUNT HOOD 


lost the skier should not hesitate to fall immediately; further 
momentum only adds to the danger of a severe fall or accident. 

Show due regard to trail conditions. Do not attempt to 
ski when the snow is shallow or icy. However “powder snow,” 
although it makes travel slow and difficult, is safe. Ideal skiing 
is over well-firmed snow without crust. 

Heed the advice of officials and patrolmen (recognized by 
Forest Service badge) as to proper trails. When descending a 
trail the skier should call “track!” This gives him the right 
of way and cautions others to give clearance. The skier should 
not stand idly or walk on the ski trails. 

When tired stop skiing immediately; do not be too proud 
to walk. Should a skier become completely exhausted he 
should be kept warm as possible and a ski patrol toboggan 
sent for. If a skier is injured summon the ski patrol. 

Do not run trails after sundown, when they usually become 
icy and consequently very “fast,” materially increasing the 
danger of accidents. An injured skier, if on a late run, may 
not be found by the ski patrol. 

Skiers should stay on the trails and within the prescribed 
skiing areas. He should never go alone into unfrequented 
country. Do not attempt the hazardous. 

Watch the weather. Mount Hood winter climate is variable 
and storms often arise suddenly which necessitates a constant 
vigil. If storms threaten the skier should remain within easy 
reach of a shelter. 


SKI BOWL—SKI RACING TRAIL—SLALOM COURSE. 

Junction with State 50—Tom-Dick-Harry Mountain Trail; 
0.5 m. Class AA and A Area; 230 acres. 

The SKI BOWL, a natural three-sided area with slopes 
ranging from 30 to 50 degrees, is on the north flank of Tom- 
Dick-Harry Mountain. Its open slopes provide ideal condi¬ 
tions for slalom racing and its level floor, one-fourth mile 
square, is a junction point for several trails from the crests 
above and from the Central Skiing Area (see below ) to the 
east. A continuous rope Ski Tow lifts passengers for 400 feet 
up the 900 foot rise of the abrupt south wall of the bowl. 
Ski instruction available during weekends. There is a ski hut 
for rewaxing and rest, and a first aid station. 


112 


WINTER SPORTS AND SKI TRAILS 


A curving, fast SKI RACING TRAIL, two miles long, starts 
from the Tom-Dick-Harry Lookout Station on the ridge above, 
and sloping east and north skirts the west edge of the bowl. 
Rating, expert. 

NATIONAL SLALOM CHAMPIONSHIP COURSE de¬ 
scends Tom-Dick-Harry Mountain in a corkscrew fashion and 
terminates in the Ski Bowl. This trail is one-half mile long 
and has a drop of 800 feet. Rating, expert. 


CASCADE SKI JUMP—CENTRAL SKIING AREA. 

Junction with State 50 at Government Camp (R) on Multor- 
por Mountain Trail, 0.4 m. 

Class AA and A area; 800 acres. 

The CASCADE SKI JUMP, built in 1928 by the Cascade 
Ski Club and improved in 1931, descends the long and spec¬ 
tacular north slope of Multorpor Mountain (4,857 alt.). Three 
jumps are provided: distances of 200 to 300 feet are possible 
from the Class A jump; 150 feet from the Class B jump; and 
up to 100 feet from the Class C jump. It is open only to 
qualified jumpers and is the scene of many annual ski-jumping 
events of national importance. A small fee is charged spec¬ 
tators on tournament days. Two ski tows of the rope type con¬ 
vey skiers 700 feet up the jumping slope. A shelter cabin 
stands at the crest of the hill. 

The CENTRAL SKIING AREA, a 300-acre snowfield of 
moderate practice grades, lies along the north slopes of the 
ridgeway between Multorpor Mountain and Tom-Dick-Harry 
Mountain. There is a connecting trail with the Ski Bowl, on 
the west. 

There is a diverging trail, three-fourths mile long, from 
Multorpor Mountain to Summit Guard Station. 

Originating at various points, a variety of trails and runs 
diverge throughout the area. 


SUMMIT MEADOWS SKI TRAIL. 

State 50 to Summit Guard Station, 0.2 m. 

Class B area; 10 acres. 

SUMMIT MEADOWS SKI TRAIL follows the varying 
levels of the old Barlow Road, curving southeast. It is three- 

J1 3 


MOUNT HOOD 


fourths of a mile long and is rated an easy course for be¬ 
ginners. Training in ski technic can be acquired on this trail 
before the more difficult runs are attempted. First aid equip¬ 
ment at the Summit Guard Station. 

GLADE SKI TRAIL—BLOSSOM SKI TRAIL—ALPINE 
SKI TRAIL—NANITCH SKI AREA—CASCADE SKI 
TRAIL—MAZAMA HILL AND SKI TRAIL—WEST LEG 
SKI TRAIL. 

Timberline Lodge—Timberline Cabin—Phlox Point—Na- 
nitch Hill—Mazama Hill—Government Camp—Summit 
Guard Station. 

Class AA and A area; 700 acres. 

GLADE SKI TRAIL starts from the open glades lying be¬ 
tween Timberline Lodge (first aid station) and Timberline 
Cabin and strikes down the mountain through a wide burned- 
off area, following the eastern margin of Sand Canyon. At 
about the 4,400 level it curves to the right, connecting with 
the Blossom Ski Trail (see below) and the Cascade Ski Trail 
(see below), terminating at Government Camp (first aid sta - 
tion). From an altitude of 6,000 feet this route drops by 
moderate grades to the 3,875 foot level, a distance of four 
miles. Rating, intermediate. 

BLOSSOM SKI TRAIL, starting at Timberline Lodge, 
drops through scattered trees and in a run of three miles de¬ 
scends 2,200 feet. Combines with Glade Trail one mile from 
terminus. 

Thrills such as those found on famous courses in the Alps 
are common on this course; to negotiate the route successfully 
requires the skill and nerve of an expert. 

ALPINE SKI TRAIL takes off from a point just west of 
Timberline Lodge and drops 2,000 feet in a little less than 
four miles; a fast 15-minute run. It ends just west of the Sum¬ 
mit Guard Station on the Loop Highway. Features of this 
course are the “Corkscrew Canyon” and the “Washboard.” 
Rating, intermediate. 

Midway on the Alpine Ski Trail is the NANITCH SKI 
AREA and just below it is Mazama Hill, each offering a 
variety of practice slopes. About 40 acres are cleared of all 

114 


WINTER SPORTS AND SKI TRAILS 

snags and irregularities, affording facilities for slalom and 
downhill training. These areas may also be entered from the 
West Leg Timberline Road at a point one and one-half miles 
above the Loop Highway. 

CASCADE SKI TRAIL separates from the Alpine Ski Trail 
in the Nanitch Ski Area, and continues south and west down 
Mazama Hill. It connects with the Blossom Trail at a point 
just above its terminus with the Loop Highway. This course, 
one and one-half miles long, is 60 feet wide and has a maxi¬ 
mum grade of 25 per cent. Rating, intermediate. 

MAZAMA SKI TRAIL diverges from the Alpine Trail on 
Mazama Hill, and courses southeast, downhill to the Mazama 
Lodge, a distance of one mile. Rating, intermediate. 

WEST LEG SKI TRAIL starts from South or Poochie 
Glade below Timberline Lodge, and ends at the Loop High¬ 
way near the Summit Guard Station. It is a run of about six 
miles, with many easy curves; the last half of it is over the 
Old Timberline Road. This route 50 feet wide, has a drop 
of 2,300 feet over an 8 per cent grade. Rating, novice. This 
trail is also used for snowshoeing. 


LONE FIR SKI TRAIL — NATIONAL DOWNHILL 
CHAMPIONSHIP TRAIL—TOBOGGAN COURSE. 

Timberline Lodge to Lone Fir Lookout Station, 1 m. 

Class AA area 300 feet. 

LONE FIR SKI TRAIL, a fast slalom course, starts from 
Lone Fir Lookout ( shelter, first aid station), at an altitude of 
6,700 feet, and terminates one mile below in the glades im¬ 
mediately west of Timber line Lodge. Some daring experts 
extend this run by climbing to Crater Rock and from an eleva¬ 
tion of 9,500 feet descend through the glades to the Loop 
Highway, using either the Blossom Trail or the Alpine Trail. 
Covering this combined route, a drop of 5,600 feet in six and 
one half miles is experienced. 

NATIONAL DOWNHILL CHAMPIONSHIP TRAIL or 
“Turtleneck” is for experts of exceptional ability only, and is 
extremely hazardous and fast. Starting at Crater Rock, this 
course sweeps down the upper ridgeway between Salmon and 
White Rivers, descending over a concluding 50 per cent grade 
into the Salmon River canyon just east of Timberline Lodge. 

115 


MOUNT HOOD 


This is an altitude drop of nearly 4,500 feet in a distance of 
two and three-fourths miles. 

A Ski Lift extends from a point 200 yards east of Timberline 
Lodge to a terminus well above Lone Fir Lookout, a distance 
of one and one-tenth miles. Its capacity is 300 skiers per hour 
with a chair every 12 seconds. 

A TOBOGGAN COURSE at the rear of Timberline Lodge 
is operated by the Wy’east Climbers and is open to the public 
so long as certain rules are obeyed. 


COOPER SPUR SKI TRAILS—SKI BOWL—SKI JUMP¬ 
ING HILL—SAND CANYON RIDGE—BEAR MOUN¬ 
TAIN-PRACTICE SLOPE. 

Junction with State 35 at Cooper Spur Road, 0.3 m. 

Class A and B area; 250 acres. 

COOPER SPUR SKI JUMPING HILL, centered in this 
area, affords two leaps: Class A jump, a leap of 250 feet; 
Class B jump, a leap of 75 feet. Both jumps descend into the 
Ski Bowl, a 40-acre area cleared of all trees and obstacles. 
Rating, qualified experts. 

Class A Slalom Course descends from the Ski Jumping Hill, 
two miles, to Sand Canyon. Rating, expert. 

Class B Downhill Run starts from the Ski Jumping Hill and 
terminates at the Homestead Inn and the Cooper Spur Road, 
distance one mile. Rating, intermediate. 

A rope tow owned and operated by the Mount Hood Ski 
Club, conveys skiers from the Ski Bowl to the crest of the Ski 
Jumping Hill. Centrally located in the Bowl is a shelter cabin 
with a large stone fireplace. 

Class A Downhill Run, two miles long, descends from the 
Sand Canyon Ridge and terminates at the Homestead Inn. 
Rating, expert. 

Class B Slalom Course, one mile long, sweeps over the upper 
grades of the area and comes to an end one-fourth mile west 
of Cooper Spur Inn and the Spur Road. Rating, intermediate. 

The PRACTICE AREA, affording a variety of grades for 
the novice, lies on the slopes of nearby Bear Mountain. 

Adventurous experts climb the mountain slopes to the Tilly 
Jane Forest Camp area and ski back through the trees, a dis¬ 
tance of four miles to the Ski Bowl. 

116 


WINTER SPORTS AND SKI TRAILS 


Long-distance skiing is provided over the Cross-Country 
Ski Trail, which runs from the Ski Bowl to Parkdale, 10 miles 
north. 

Running from the Ski Jumping Hill to Sand Canyon, a 
Toboggan Course is for the use of all who furnish their own 
coasting equipment. 


n 7 




















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































PART III 


Appendices 





































































































































































































































































































































































































































Chronology 


1792 Oct. 30—Mount Hood first sighted by white men. Members of the 
crew of H.M.S. Chatham under command of Lieutenant William R. 
Broughton while exploring the Columbia River saw a “very re¬ 
markable high mountain” which Lieutenant Broughton named 
after his patron. Rear Admiral Samuel Hood of the Royal British 
Navy. 

1805 Oct. 21—Mount Hood sighted by Lewis and Clark who called it 
“the Timm or Falls mountain,” because of its proximity to the 
great falls of the Columbia. 

1825 David Douglas, Scotch botanist of the Royal British Horticultural 
Society, visited the Columbia River valley. At that time he expressed 
the opinion that Mount Hood could not be scaled. 

1843 Oct. 23—Captain John C. Fremont, on an exploring expedition into 
the Oregon Country sighted Mount Hood from a spur of the Blue 
Mountains 180 miles away. 

1845 Oct.-Dec.—The Samuel Barlow and Joel Palmer wagon trains 
blazed first road over the Cascade Range just south of Mount Hood. 

1845 Oct. 12—Joel Palmer climbed far up the south slope of Mount 
Hood, the first man to climb any distance up the white peak. 

1846 Barlow received a franchise from the Provisional Government of 
Oregon and began construction of a toll road over the route his 
train had followed the previous year. By August the road was 
sufficiently completed to handle the immigrant travel of that year. 

1849 “The government camp in the mountains” was established by 
Lieutenant William Frost when forced to abandon his wagons 
here while on a military expedition. 

1854 Thomas J. Dryer, editor of the Oregonian, claimed to have reached 
the summit of Mount Hood, but his claim was discredited by later 
investigators. 

1857 July 11—A party consisting of Henry L. Pittock, Rev. T. A. Woods, 
Lyman Chittenden, and Wilbur Cornell, made the first authenti¬ 
cated climb to the summit of Mount Hood. 

1859 Aug. 20—The Portland Weekly Oregonian reported spectacular 
volcanic activity and “intermittent columns of fire” emanating from 
the crater on Mount Hood for two hours. 

1867 Miss Mary Robinson and Miss Fanny Case were the first women to 
reach the summit of Mount Hood. 

1868 Perry Vickers built Summit House at Summit Meadows on the old 
Barlow Road. 

1870 July 4—The first attempted illumination of the mountain by Perry 
Vickers who built a large bonfire there. It could not be seen from 
Portland (see July 4, 1887). 


121 


APPENDICES 


1873 July 4—Perry Vickers was first man to spend the night on the sum¬ 
mit of Mount Hood. He set off fireworks for the benefit of “a com¬ 
mittee of 25 persons of unimpeachable veracity.” 

1877 July 4—A party of men from The Dalles made an unsuccessful 
attempt to illuminate the mountain. 

1883-84 The first road from Hood River to the north timberline of 
Mount Hood was constructed. 

1884 First camping resort was established on Tilly Jane creek by Mrs. 
Dave Cooper. The site was on Cooper Spur, just below the present 
Cloud Cap Inn. 

1885 July 4—A fourth unsuccessful try at illuminating Mount Hood was 
attempted by a group of Portland men armed with a large supply 
of red fire and a device to set it off. The “infernal machine” 
operated prematurely igniting the fire in midafternoon. 

1887 July 4—Mount Hood finally illuminated successfully by a party of 
seven men led by Will Steel. One hundred pounds of red fire 
were used and the result was seen from many far distant towns 
and villages. 

1887 Sept. 14—The first mountaineering group in Oregon, the Oregon 
Alpine Club, was organized. It suspended activities upon the or¬ 
ganization of the Mazamas in 1894 (see below). 

1889 Cloud Cap Inn was erected of Amabilis fir logs at timberline on 
the northeast shoulder of Mount Hood. 

1892 June 17—President Harrison, by proclamation, created the Bull 
Run Timberland Reserve. 

1892 Sept.—G. W. Graham and W. A. Langille made the first trip afoot 
around the mountain, starting their hike from the north side. 

1893 Sept. 28—The Cascade Forest Reserve was created by the Federal 
Government. 

1894 July 19—The Mazamas, famous Oregon mountain club was or¬ 
ganized on the summit of Mount Hood, by 200 men and women 
who became charter members of the club. Membership is confined 
to those who have climbed to the summit of a snow peak on which 
there is a living glacier, and which cannot be reached except on 
foot. 

1897 July 11—The first death on Mount Hood was that of Frederic 
Kern, a 6o-year-old Swiss grocer of Portland, who attempted to 
climb the peak alone and was swept over a cliff by an avalanche. 

1897 Elijah Coalman, at the age of 15, began a long career as Mount 
Hood’s best-known and best-loved summit guide. 

1900 First resort hotel on the mountain built at Government Camp by 
O. C. Yocum. 

1907 A. H. Sylvester, in charge of a mapping party of the U. S. Geologi¬ 
cal Survey, made the first survey of the Mount Hood quadrangle. 

1907 The Portland Ski Club was organized. Their sole object was skiing 
and annual trips were made to Government Camp in February for 
that purpose. 

1908 July 1—The Oregon National Forest was carved from the Cascade 
National Forest. 

1911-12 First “Government Camp Hotel” was erected by Elijah Coalman. 

1915 Elijah Coalman built a cabin for the Forest Service on the summit 
of Mount Hood. For a number of years it served as a fire lookout 

122 


APPENDICES 


station and shelter house for climbers who reached the top of the 
mountain. 

1919 Barlow Toll Road was deeded by Henry Wemme through his at¬ 
torney, George W. Joseph, to the State of Oregon. 

1919 First work was begun on the modern Mount Hood Loop Highway, 
two miles west of Government Camp. 

1924 Jan. 21—Mount Hood National Forest was created out of the 
Oregon National Forest. 

1926 April 28—Mount Hood Recreation Area was created and defined. 
There were 83,731 acres set aside for this purpose. 

1926 The Hood River Crag Rats, a mountaineering club of Hood River, 
was organized. Members must be experienced climbers and have 
expert first-aid knowledge. 

1926 The Mount Hood Loop highway was completed and opened to the 
public. 

1928 The Cascade Ski jump on Multorpor Hill was constructed. Three 
years later it was materially improved. 

1929 The Federal government completed that part of the Wapinitia 
highway within the national forest at a cost of half a million 
dollars. 

1930 Dec.—The Wy’east Climbers, a mountain climbing club was or¬ 
ganized, with its membership limited to mountaineers of proved 
ability. 

1931 Mount Hood Primitive area set aside by the U. S. Forest Service. 

1936 June 14—Cornerstone laid for new Timberline Lodge. 

1937 Sept. 28—Timberline Lodge, constructed by WPA, dedicated by 
President Franklin D. Roosevelt. 

1938 Feb. 4—Timberline Lodge formally opened to the public. 


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Bibliography 


Berreman, Joel V., Tribal Distribution in Oregon. No. 47, 1937. Supple¬ 
ment to American Anthropologist, Vol. 39, No. 3, Part 2. 

Gabrielson, Ira N., Western American Alpines. The Macmillan Co., N. Y., 
1932 . 

Haskins, Leslie R., Wild Flowers of the Pacific Coast. Metropolitan Press, 
Portland, 1934. 

Judson, Katharine Berry, Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest. 
Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1910. Indian legends. 

Lyman, William Denison, The Columbia River. New York: G. P. Putnam’s 
Sons, 1918. A chapter on Mount Hood. 

Mazama, The. Portland, Oregon: 1896-1940. Various authors. The annual, 
or last yearly number of this monthly, published by The Mazamas, 
a mountaineering club. 

McNeil, Fred H., Wy’east, ‘The Mountain.* Portland, Oregon: Metropoli¬ 
tan Press, 1937. A history of Mount Hood. 

Oregon Out of Doors. Portland Oregon: The Mazamas, 1920. Various 
authors. A collection of articles, most of which treat of Mount Hood. 

Rusk, C. E., Tales of a Western Mountaineer. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin 
Co. 1924. A chapter on “The Etherial Mountain.” 

Steel Points. Portland, Oregon: privately published, irregularly issued 
from 1906 to 1917. A variety of information on Mount Hood, gathered 
at first hand. 

Steel, W. G., The Mountains of Oregon. David Steel, Pub., Portland, 1890. 

Sudworth, George B., Forest Trees of the Pacific Slope. U. S. Forest Serv¬ 
ice, Washington, D. C. 

Williams, John Harvey, The Guardians of the Columbia. Tacoma, Wash¬ 
ington: privately published, 1912. A description of Mount Hood, with 
photographs. 


125 


/ 




Index 


Bald Mountain Ridge, 81 
Barlow Monument, 56 
Barlow Pass, 39, 61, 67, 83 
Barlow Road, 40, 42, 53, 55, 65, 
71, 84, 108 

Barlow, Samuel Kimbrough, 38, 

39 > 5 6 > 6 2 

Barlow, Willie, 39 
Barrett, Dr. P. G., 103 
Barrett Spur, 89, 103 
Bear Spring, 63 
Bennett, Samuel, 61 
Bennett Pass, 4, 61, 68 
Big Crevasse, 93 
Big Meadows, 66 
Blakney, Clem, 91 
Blue Box Junction, 63, 66 
Blue Box Summit, 84 
Blue Ridge, 5 
Bluegrass Ridge, 5, 60 
Bonney Butte Ridge, 68 
Bonney Meadows, 68 
Broughton, Lieut. William, 3, 
3 6 > 37 

Brownlee, Leslie, 92, 93 
Building the Highways, 38 
Bull Run, 47 

“Bull Run Reserve," 45, 64, 74 
Butte Springs, 84 
Buzzards Point, 62 

1 


Cairn Basin, 81 

Camp Blossom, 78, 91, 92, 93 
Camp Chinidere, 86 
Camp Creek, 71 
Campbell, Horace, 65 
Cascade Forest Reserve, 42 
Cascade Locks, 46, 47 
Cascade Road and Bridge Com¬ 
pany, 40 

Case, Miss Fanny, 88 
Castle Rocks, 72 
Cathedral Crags, 100 
Cathedral Ridge, 81, 90, 100, 103, 
104 

the “Chimney," 99 
Chinook Wind, 34-36 
Chittenden, Lyman, 88 
the “Chute," 98 
CCC Camps, 48 
Clackamas, 24, 28, 45 
Clackamas Lake Ranger Station, 
66 

Clark, Captain, 37 
Clark, Newton, 89, 102, 104 
Clear Fork Guard Station, 65 
Climate, 5-7 

Cloud Cap Inn, 59, 82, 99, 108 
Coalman, Elijah, 43, 55, 91, 98 
Coe Glacier, 89, 93, 100, 103 
Coe, Captain Henry, 100 

27 


INDEX 


Coe Rock, 103 

Columbia Gorge Ranger Station, 

57 

Columbia River Gorge, 8, 57 
Conyers, E. W., 54 
Cooper, Dave, 60, 90 
Cooper, Mr. and Mrs. David, 99 
Cooper Spur, 59, 93, 99, 100, 116 
Corbett, 46 
Cornell, Wilbur, 88 
Crag Rats, 76, 92 
Crane Prairie, 68 
Crater Rock, 9, 10, 77, 92, 97, 
98, 101, 115 

Creeks: Barlow, 67, 83, 84; Clark, 
83, 84; Clear, 64, 82; Coe, 82; 
Cold Springs, 85; Compass, 82; 
Eliot, 82; Elk, 82, 85, 86; Fir 
Tree, 66; Frog, 84; Green 
Lake, 84; Heather, 83; Jones, 
86; Ladd, 82; Lady, 73; Lin- 
ney, 70; Lost, 73, 80; Mosier, 
24; Mud, 79; Newton, 83; Po- 
lally, 60; Trapper, 60; Tygh, 24 

Deady, Judge Matthew P., 40 
Devils Canyon, 73 
Devils Canyon Viewpoint, 73 
Devil’s Half Acre, 67, 83 
Devil’s Kitchen, 10, 98 
Douglas, David, 11, 37, 87 
Driver, John, 42 
Dryer, Thomas J., 87 
Dufur, 46 

Eden Park, 12, 81, 82, 85, 103 
Eden Park Glacier, 103 
Electric Power Plants, 47 


Eliot Glacier, 59, 82, 89, 99, 100, 
105 

Eliot, Dr. Thomas Lamb, 99 
Elk Cove, 82 
Elk Meadows, 84 
Evans, W. W., 91 

Fauna, 18-23 
Feyerabend, Al, 92 
First White Men, 36-38 
Flag Mountain Saddle, 74 
Flora, 11-18 

Forest Camps: Badger Lake, 85; 
Barlow, 71, 77; Bear Springs, 
63, 68; Bighorn, 70; Boulder 
Lake, 68; Camp Creek, 54, 71, 
74; Clackamas Lake, 66; Clear 
Creek, 64; Devil’s Half Acre, 
68; Eagle Creek, 57; Fir Creek, 
66; Frog Lake, 63; Hood 
River Meadows, 60, 84; Iron 
Creek, 61; Island, 70; Kinzel 
Lake, 66; Linney Creek, 70; 
Salmon River, 70; Sherwood, 

60, 69; Still Creek, 65, 75; 

Olallie Meadows, 67; Polally, 
49, 60; Robin Hood, 60, 85; 
Rolling Riffle, 70; Tilly Jane, 
59, 82, 99, 100, 105, 110, 

116; Toll Gate, 53, 71; Twin 
Bridges, 54, 75; White River, 

61, 68 

Fremont, Captain, 37 
Frost, Lieut. William, 55 
Fumaroles, 98 

Geology, 9-12 
Ghost Ridge, 99, 109 


INDEX 


Gilman, Miss Esther, 93 
Gladstone, 46 
Gnarl Ridge, 82 

Government Camp, 41, 53, 55, 
56, 71, 76, 78, 108, 110 
Graham, G. W., 42 
Gray, Cornelius, 88 
Gray, Robert, 36 
Gresham, 46, 53 
Gullickson, Glen, 93 
Gumjuwac Saddle, 60, 69, 85 

History, 23-44 
Holman, George, 61 
Homestead Inn, 59, 85 
Hood, Rear-Admiral Samuel, 3, 
37 

Hood River American Legion 
Camp, 82 

Hood River Crag Rats, 43 
Hood River Meadows, 60, 83 
Hood River Valley, 41, 58 
Horseshoe Rock, 100 
Horse Thief Meadows, 60 
Hot Rocks, 98, 104 
Hudson’s Bay Company, 37 

Illumination Point, 77 
Illumination Rock, 87, 89, 102, 
105 

Indians: artifacts, 25-26; burial 
customs, 27-28; canoes, 25-26; 
clothing, 26; foods, 26-27; 
houses, 26; myths, 30-36; “pit” 
houses, 28-29; religious beliefs, 
27-28 

Indians: Warm Springs Reserva¬ 
tion, 29, 62 


Indian tribes, 23-36; Cayuse, 24; 
Celilos, 25; Chinooks, 25; Chi- 
nookan, 25; Clackamas, 25; 
Clowewalla, 25; Hood River, 
24, 25, 27; Kushooks, 25; Mo- 
lallas, 24, 28, 29; Piutes, 25, 29, 
63; Sahaptin, 25; Salish, 25; 
Smackshops, 24, 25; Snakes, 
25; Tenino, 24, 63; Tilkuni, 
24; Tyghs, 24, 28, 29, 62; 
Warm Springs, 29, 59; Wasco, 
12, 25, 29; Wishrams, 25 
Inland Empire, 57 

Jackpot Meadows, 79 
Jefferson Rocks, 100 
Joseph, George W., 41 
Juniper Flat, 62 

Kelly, Hall Jackson, 37 
Kern, Frederic, 90 
Killingsworth, Fay, 90 
Killingsworth, William, 90 

Ladd Glacier, 98, 103 
Ladd, William S., 59, 103 
Lakes: Badger, 5, 69, 85; Bull 
Run, 5, 41; Burnt, 76; Clacka¬ 
mas, 66; Dollar, 82; Frog, 5, 
63; Hidden, 54, 77; Kinzel, 66; 
Lost Lake, 5, 30, 33, 41, 57, 
76, 86; Mirror, 78; Mud, 79; 
Olallie, 20, 67; Trillium, 79; 
Veda, 66; Wahtum Lake, 86 
Langille Crags, 100 
Langille, Douglas, 90 
Langille, James L., 59 
Langille, W. A., 42 


129 


INDEX 


Langille, Will, 90, 91 
Laurel Hill, 41, 54, 55, 71, 78, 
109 

Lava Beds, 59 

Lewis and Clark, 24, 25, 28, 37, 
53 

Linney Creek Guard Station, 79 
Little, Francis E., 42, 88 
Little Zigzag Canyon, 71, 80 
Lolo Pass, 40, 41, 85 
Lone Fir Lookout, 97, 115 
Lookout Point, 59 
Lost Lake Guard Station, 86 

Make-up Rock, 97 
Maupin, Dick, 108 
Mazamas, 43, 76, 90, 93, 94, 100, 
109 

Memaloose Island, 28 
Mississippi Head, 87 
Molalla Valley, 24 
Mosier, 25 

Mount Hood and Barlow Road 
Company, 40 

Mount Hood National Forest, 
45 * 49 > 59 

Mount Hood Primitive Area, 73, 
75’ 80, 

Mount Hood Recreation Area, 
5 ’ 49 

Mount Hood, physical features, 4 
Mount Hood Wagon Road Com¬ 
pany, 39 

Mount Jefferson Primitive Area, 
48-49, 67 

Mountain Peaks: Badger Butte, 
5, 85; Bald Mountain, 5, 81; 
Barlow Butte, 5, 67, 83; Bear 


Mountain, 116; Bonney Butte, 
5, 68; Booth Hill, 58; Burnt 
Peak, 5, 64; Clear Lake Butte, 
66; Devils Peak, 5, 66, 73, 76; 
East Zigzag Mountain, 73, 75; 
Elk Mountain, 5, 84; Eureka 
Butte, 65; Eureka Mountain, 
5; Frog Lake Buttes, 63, 84; 
Gunsight Butte, 5, 69, 85; He 
He Butte, 63; Hiyu Mountain, 
5, 76, 86; Hunchback Moun¬ 
tain, 74; Mount Jefferson, 57, 
62, 76; Lamberson Butte, 5, 
82; Larch Mountain, 76; Le- 
miti Butte, 67; Lookout Moun¬ 
tain, 5, 61, 69; Lost Lake 
Butte, 5, 86; Mazama Hill, 
114; Multorpor Mountain, 5, 
65, 78; North Mountain, 64; 
Olallie Butte, 67, 76; Paradise 
Peak, 12; Peavine Mountain, 
67; Pinhead Butte, 67; Mount 
Rainier, 76; Red Hill, 5; 
Mount St. Helens, 76; Senti¬ 
nel Butte, 5; Sentinel Peak, 
86; Sisi Butte, 67; Slide Moun¬ 
tain, 64, 81; Sugarloaf Moun¬ 
tain, 5, 64; Three Sisters, 57; 
Tom - Dick - Harry Mountain, 
78; Veda Butte, 5, 65; West 
Zigzag Mountain, 72; Zigzag 
Mountain, 64, 76 
Mountain Ranges: Cascade 
Range, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 45, 58; 
Coast Range, 57; Presidents * 
Range, 37; Sawtooth Moun¬ 
tains, 5; Zigzag Mountains, 5 
Muir, John, 38 


INDEX 


Newton Clark Glacier, 82, 83, 
90, 91, 101, 102 

Olallie Lake Recreation Area, 67 
Olallie Meadows, 67 
Old Maid Flat, 64 
Old Tollgate House, Site of, 71 
Oregon Alpine Club, 43, 89 
Oregon City, 39, 46 
Oregon National Forest, 45 
Oregon Skyline Trail, 58 
Oregon Trail Tavern, 54 

Palmer Glacier, 77, 87, 97, 101 
Palmer, Joel, 38, 39, 62, 63, 87 
Paradise Park, 73, 75, 76, 80, 87, 
104, 109 
Parkdale, 58 
Pathfinders, 43 
Phlox Point, 6, 110 
Pioneer Bridle Trail, 53 
Pittock, Henry L., 88 
Polally Creek Canyon, 82 
Portland, 46, 53, 57, 76 
Portland Ski Club, 109 
Prosser, George, 42 
Pulpit Rock, 89, 103 

Rand, Elmer, 89 
Reid Glacier, 81, 105 
Reid, Professor Henry Fielding, 
102 

Rhododendron, 46, 53, 71 
River Mill, 47 

Rivers: Bull Run, 64; Clacka¬ 
mas, 20, 24; Columbia, 3, 24, 

37, 38, 58; Deschutes, 8; East 
Fork of Hood, 83; Hood, 4, 

13 1 


24* 25, 27, 57, 58, 86, 108; 
Labieshe’s, 24; Little Zigzag, 
77; Quicksand, 53; Salmon, 15, 
27, 62, 64, 70, 79, 83; Sandy, 
4, 5, 16, 22, 37, 53, 64, 73, 81, 
97; “River of the West,” 36; 
Warm Springs, 63; White, 4, 
24* 27, 38, 39, 41, 68, 83, 87, 
97; Willamette, 24, 37; Zig¬ 
zag* 4 * 9 * 53 * 72 , 73 * 75 * 80, 97 
Robin Hood Ranger Station, 85 
Robinson, Mary, 88 

Salmon River Guard Station, 70 
Salmon River Meadows, 64 
Salmon River Trail, 43 
Sand Canyon, 77, 78, 80 
Sandy Glacier, 81, 102, 105 
Sandy River Gorge, 81 
Sepulchre Rock, 28 
Sherar Burn, 56, 66 
Sheridan, Lieut. Phil, 37 
Sherrard, Thomas, 43 
Simnasho, 63 
Smith, William J., 89 
Snag Camp, 72 
Spicer, Frank N., 90 
Stadter Buried Forest, 73 
State Parks: Columbia Gorge, 
57; Dimmick, 58 
Steel Cliff, 10, 87, 98, 101, 102, 
104 

Steel, William Gladstone, 42, 88, 
89, 98 

Still Creek Guard Station, 74 
Strong, Jackie, 76 
Stryker, Dr. Stanton W., 93 
Summit Cabin, 98 


INDEX 


Summit Guard Station, 56, 65, 

115 

Summit House, 65 

Summit Meadows, 20, 62, 65, 75, 

78, 88 

Summit Ranger Station, 78, 110 
Swim, 56, 65, 78 
Sylvester, A. H., 43 

Tawney’s, 70 
The Dalles, 38, 46 
Tie-In Rock, 99 

Timberline Cabin (Camp Blos¬ 
som), 54, 80 

Timberline Lodge, 6, 46, 56-57, 

79, 80, 83, 97, 101, 104, 110, 

116 

Timberline Theater, 80 

Trails Club, 43, 76 

Trails and Trail Makers, 41-44 

Triangular Moraine, 97, 98 

Tygh Prairie, 24 

Tygh Valley, 24, 47, 68 

United States Geographic Sur¬ 
vey, 43 

Vickers, Perry, 42, 65, 88 

Walker, Captain A., 40 
Walker Prairie, 41 
Walker Trail, 42 
Walk-up Trail, 40, 42, 85 
Wapinitia, 24, 62 


Wapinitia Pass, 64 
Warm Springs, 29, 63 
Warm Springs Meadow, 67 
Warner, Charles E., 91 
Wasco, 63 

Waterfalls: Celilo, 25; Devils 
Creek, 73; Pencil, 83; Ramona, 
81; Umbrella, 83; Waw-Gwin- 
Gwin, 24; Willamette, 25, 42; 
Yocum, 78 

Waucoma, the place of the Cot¬ 
tonwoods, 25, 58 
Wemme, Henry, 40 
Weygandt, Mark, 100, 105 
Wheelbarrow, John, 60 
White River Canyon, 83 
White River Glacier, 92, 97, 98, 
101 

Willamette National Forest, 67 
Winthrop, Theodore, 26 
Wood, Colonel C. E. S., 59 
Woods, Rev. T. A., 88 
Wy’east Basin, 82, 103 
Wy’east Climbers, 43, 93, 94, 97 

Yocum, H. C., 42 

Yocum, Oliver C., 55, 88, 102 

Yocum Ridge, 102, 105 

Zigzag, 41, 73 
Zigzag Canyon, 41, 80 
Zigzag CCC Camp, 64 
Zigzag Glacier, 54, 97, 105 
Zigzag Ranger Station, 53, 64 


132 





































